US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel risks fueling a Hamas insurgency in postwar Gaza, cautioning that there will still be thousands of armed militants in the area even if Israel invades the city of Rafah.
More than 300,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah, as Israel expanded operations there and new battles broke out in previously cleared areas farther north.
Nearly 360,000 Gazans have fled the city of Rafah as pressure increases on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to come up with a plan to help solve the humanitarian crisis.
The exodus of Palestinians from Gaza’s last refuge accelerated Sunday as Israeli forces pushed deeper into the southern city of Rafah. Israel also pounded the territory’s devastated north, where some Hamas militants have regrouped in areas the military said it had cleared months ago.
Israel has told tens of thousands more Palestinians to leave Rafah as it steps up its military offensive in southern Gaza, despite warnings from allies including the U.S. Medics say more than a million people sheltering in Rafah are at risk of being deprived of healthcare.
Israeli forces are battling Palestinian militants across the Gaza Strip, including in parts of the devastated north that the military said it had cleared months ago.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated opposition to a major military assault on Rafah, telling CBS that Israel would “be left holding the bag on an enduring insurgency” without an exit from Gaza and postwar governance plan.
RAFAH: Israel struck Gaza on Sunday and troops were battling militants in several areas of the Palestinian territory after an Israeli evacuation order sent hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fleeing from Rafah.
Israel's prime minister said on a podcast that almost half of those killed in the Gaza war are Hamas fighters, playing down a civilian toll that has sparked global outrage.
Israeli forces today pushed deep into the ruins of Gaza's northern edge and across a highway into Rafah. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have again taken flight, and aid groups fear a humanitarian crisis.
Hamas fighters launched new attacks on Israel and IDF forces amid ongoing fighting in Gaza. Two rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel a short while ago, Israeli military said, adding that one was fired at the border community of Mefalsim,
Israel struck Gaza on Sunday and troops were battling militants in several areas of the Hamas-run territory, where the health ministry said the death toll in the war had exceeded 35,000 people.More than seven months into the Hamas-Israel war,