Israeli tanks push back into northern Gaza, warplanes hit Rafah
- Palestinians in Rafah are bracing for a planned Israeli ground offensive into the southern Gaza city
- Still no sign of any breakthrough in talks led by Qatar and Egypt to clinch a Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal
Israeli tanks pushed back into parts of the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday which they had left weeks ago, while warplanes conducted air strikes on Rafah, the Palestinians’ last refuge in the south of the territory, killing and wounding several people, medics and residents said.
Residents reported an internet outage in the areas of Beit Hanoun and Jabilia in northern Gaza. Tanks advanced into Beit Hanoun and surrounded some schools where displaced families have taken refuge, said the residents and media outlets of the militant Palestinian group Hamas.
“Occupation soldiers ordered all families inside the schools and the nearby houses where the tanks had advanced to evacuate. The soldiers detained many men,” one resident of northern Gaza told Reuters via a chat app.
Beit Hanoun, home to 60,000 people, was one of the first areas targeted by Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza last October. Heavy bombardment turned most of Beit Hanoun, once known as ‘the basket of fruit’ because of its orchards, into a ghost town comprising piles of rubble.
Many families who had returned to Beit Hanoun and Jabilia in recent weeks after Israeli forces withdrew, began moving out again on Tuesday because of the new raid, some residents said.