More than 100,000 flee Rafah as Netanyahu vows to widen Gaza assault despite US warning

AP

Jerusalem, May 10

About 110,000 people have fled Rafah in southern Gaza and food and fuel supplies in the area are critically low, a UN official says.

All crossings into southern Gaza remain closed, cutting off supplies and preventing medical evacuations and the movement of humanitarian staff, said Georgios Petropoulos, an official for the UN’s office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs working in Rafah.

Some 1.3 million Palestinians — over half Gaza’s population — had sought refuge in Rafah.

The World Food Programme will run out of food for distribution in southern Gaza by Saturday unless more aid arrives, Petropoulos said.

UN officials warn that the lack of fuel is undermining medical facilities, water supplies and sewage systems across Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that a US threat to withhold some weapons would not deter Israel from expanding its offensive in Gaza. A limited Israeli operation earlier this week captured the Gaza side of Rafah’s border crossing with Egypt, throwing humanitarian operations into crisis.

The death toll from the war in Gaza has soared to more than 34,500 people, according to local health officials, and caused vast destruction to apartments, hospitals, mosques and schools across several cities. The UN says northern Gaza is already in a state of “full-blown famine”.

The war began October 7 when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250 others. Israel says militants still hold around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

Israeli troops are battling Palestinian militants in the southern city of Rafah, where a rocket attack and an Israeli incursion earlier this week closed crucial crossings needed for humanitarian aid.

There are also battles underway in the Zeitoun area on the outskirts of Gaza City in the northern part of the territory. Northern Gaza was the first target of the ground offensive and Israel said late last year that it had mostly dismantled Hamas there.

In a statement released Friday, the military said it had located several tunnels in eastern Rafah, near the border with Egypt, and had eliminated militants “during close-quarters combat and with an aerial strike”.

Hamas’ military wing said it carried out a complex attack in which it struck a house where Israeli troops had taken up a position, an armoured personnel carrier and soldiers operating on foot.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. It was not possible to independently confirm the battlefield accounts from either side.

Hamas also said it launched a number of mortar rounds at the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing, close to where Israeli troops are operating. The military said it intercepted two launches.

The crossing was closed after a rocket attack last weekend that killed four Israeli soldiers. Israel says it has re-opened its side of the crossing, but the UN agency for Palestinian refugees says the Gaza side is inaccessible because of the ongoing fighting.

Israeli forces captured the Gaza side of the nearby Rafah crossing with Egypt on Tuesday, forcing it to shut down. It’s unclear when it will reopen.

Aid groups say a prolonged closure of the crossings will severely hinder humanitarian operations in the territory, where hunger is already rampant.

The UN General Assembly is expected to vote Friday on a resolution that would grant new “rights and privileges” to Palestine and call on the Security Council to favourably reconsider its request to become the 194th member of the United Nations.

The United States vetoed a widely backed council resolution on April 18 that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine, a goal the Palestinians have long sought and Israel has worked to prevent. US deputy ambassador Robert Wood made clear Thursday the Biden administration is opposed to the assembly resolution.

Unlike the Security Council, there are no vetoes in the 193-member General Assembly and the resolution is expected to be approved by a large majority.

The draft resolution “determines” that a state of Palestine is qualified for membership, dropping the original language that in the General Assembly’s judgment it is “a peace-loving state.” It therefore recommends that the Security Council reconsider its request “favourably.” At numerous council and assembly meetings, the humanitarian crisis facing the Palestinians in Gaza and the killing of more than 34,000 people in the territory, according to Gaza health officials, have generated outrage from many countries.

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