30-5-2024 (GAZA) Israeli forces have seized control of the buffer zone along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, the country’s military announced on Wednesday. This move effectively grants Israel authority over the Palestinian territory’s entire land border.
Despite an order from the International Court of Justice to cease attacks on Rafah, Israel has continued its deadly raids on the southern Gaza city, where half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents had sought refuge.
In a televised briefing, chief military spokesperson Daniel Hagari stated that Israeli forces had gained “operational” control over the “Philadelphi Corridor” – the Israeli military’s code name for the 14-kilometre (9-mile) corridor along the Gaza Strip’s sole border with Egypt.
“The Philadelphi Corridor served as a lifeline for Hamas, which regularly used it to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip,” Hagari said, referring to the armed Palestinian group that governs the blockaded territory.
While Hagari did not elaborate on the meaning of “operational” control, an Israeli military official earlier confirmed the presence of Israeli “boots on the ground” along parts of the corridor.
The border with Egypt along the southern edge was the only land border that Israel had not directly controlled in the Gaza Strip.
Earlier on Wednesday, Israel sent tanks on raids into Rafah, moving into the heart of the city for the first time on Tuesday, despite the International Court of Justice’s order to immediately halt the assault.
The World Court stated that Israel had failed to explain how it would keep evacuees from Rafah safe and provide food, water, and medicine. Its ruling also called on Hamas to immediately and unconditionally release hostages taken from Israel on October 7.
Rafah residents reported that Israeli tanks had pushed into Tel Al-Sultan in the west and Yibna and near Shaboura in the centre before retreating towards a buffer zone on the border with Egypt, rather than remaining in place as they have in previous offensives.
“We received distress calls from residents in Tel Al-Sultan where drones targeted displaced citizens as they moved from areas where they were staying toward the safe areas,” said Haitham al Hams, the deputy director of ambulance and emergency services in Rafah.
Palestinian health officials stated that 19 civilians had been killed in Israeli airstrikes and shelling across Gaza. Israel accuses Hamas militants of hiding among civilians, a claim that Gaza’s ruling Islamist group denies.
Health Minister Majed Abu Raman urged Washington to pressure Israel to open the Rafah crossing for aid, saying there was no indication that Israeli authorities would do so soon and that patients in besieged Gaza were dying due to lack of treatment.
Fighting in Gaza will continue throughout 2024 at least, said Israel’s National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, signalling that Israel was not ready to end the war as Hamas has demanded as part of a deal to exchange its hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
“The fighting in Rafah is not a pointless war,” Hanegbi said, reiterating that Israel aimed to end Hamas rule in Gaza and stop it and its allies from attacking Israel.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel needed to craft a post-war plan for Gaza or risk lawlessness, chaos, and a Hamas comeback in the enclave.
The U.S., Israel’s closest ally, reiterated its opposition to a major ground offensive in Rafah on Tuesday while saying it did not believe such an operation was underway.
More than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s Gaza offensive, according to the enclave’s health ministry.
Israel launched its war after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israeli communities on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Ceasefire Negotiations Struggle On There was no word on Wednesday regarding developments in the ceasefire and hostage release talks. Hamas has said talks are pointless unless Israel ends its offensive on Rafah.
The armed wings of Hamas and its allies, Islamic Jihad, said they confronted invading forces in Rafah with anti-tank rockets, mortar bombs, and explosive devices they had planted, resulting in numerous successful hits.
The Israeli military said three Israeli soldiers were killed, and three were badly wounded. Public broadcaster Kan radio reported that an explosive device had been set off in a Rafah building.
Palestinian health officials said several people were wounded by Israeli fire, and stores of aid were set ablaze in eastern Rafah, where residents said Israeli bombardment had destroyed many homes in an area Israel had ordered evacuated.
Around a million Palestinians who had taken shelter in Rafah at the southern end of the Gaza Strip have now fled after Israeli orders to evacuate, according to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said it had evacuated its medical teams from its field hospital in the Al-Mawasi area, a designated civilian evacuation zone, due to continued bombardments.
PRCS said two of its staff were killed when an ambulance was struck while on a mission to rescue people in Rafah. In another Israeli air strike on a house in Gaza City, medics said five other Palestinians were killed.
In the nearby city of Khan Younis, an Israeli air strike killed three people overnight, including Salama Baraka, a former senior Hamas police officer, according to medics and Hamas media. Another strike killed four people, including two children, medics said.
In northern Gaza, Israeli forces shelled Gaza City neighbourhoods and moved deeper into Jabalia, where residents said large residential districts were destroyed.
Malnutrition has become widespread in Gaza as aid deliveries have slowed to a trickle. The U.N., which has warned of famine, said on Wednesday that the amount of humanitarian aid entering the enclave has dropped by two-thirds since Israel began its assault on the Rafah region this month.
