At least six Palestinians have been killed in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), and several homes have been destroyed as Israeli forces advanced towards the town and moved towards Shujayea in northern Gaza.
Israeli tanks, which re-entered Shujayea four days ago, fired shells at several houses, leaving families trapped inside and unable to leave, residents said.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that “between 60,000 and 80,000 people were displaced” from Shujayea in recent days.
For those who stayed, “our lives have become hell,” said Siham al-Shawa, a 50-year-old resident.
He told AFP news agency that people were trapped because attacks could happen “anywhere” and “it is difficult to get out of the neighborhood under fire.”
“We don’t know where to go to protect ourselves,” he said.
Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said residents who managed to flee the neighbourhood said the scale of destruction was “massive”.
He said the central areas of Gaza City have also been “hit” by Israeli forces.
“In the last hour, a residential apartment was attacked. Medical sources we have spoken to say that at least 15 people have been killed today in the north after people’s homes were directly hit by artillery shells,” Abu Azzoum said.
He said that in Rafah, “indiscriminate Israeli attacks continue as residents flee for their lives.”
“In the al-Mawasi district, declared a 'safe zone' by the Israeli army, they have been setting fire to makeshift tent camps where displaced Palestinians have been taking shelter,” he added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his stance that there is no substitute for victory in the war against Hamas on Sunday, speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting.
“We are committed to fighting until we achieve all our objectives: eliminating Hamas, returning all our hostages, ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to Israel, and returning our residents safely to their homes in the south and north,” he claimed. saying.
'Empty shells'
Meanwhile, Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, said there has been no progress in ceasefire negotiations. On Saturday, he said the Palestinian group remains willing to discuss any truce proposal to end the nearly nine-month attacks.
As the offensive focused on Gaza in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, one man was killed and five wounded in an Israeli attack near the town of Tulkarem, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The armed wing of Hamas and its ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad reported fierce fighting in both Shujayea and Rafah, saying their fighters had fired anti-tank rockets and mortar shells at Israeli forces operating there.
Efforts by Arab mediators, backed by the United States, have stalled. Hamas says any deal must end the offensive and trigger a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israel says it will accept only temporary pauses in fighting until Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, is eradicated.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said 43 bodies of murdered Palestinians arrived at hospitals in the last 24 hours. At least another 111 people were injured.
Israel's offensive has so far killed at least 37,877 people, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, and left the densely urbanized coastal enclave in ruins.
Israeli tanks advanced on Sunday into several districts in eastern, western and central Rafah near the border with Egypt, and medics said six people were killed in an Israeli attack on a house in Shaboura, in the heart of the city.
Six bodies from the Zurub family were taken to Nasser Hospital in the nearby town of Khan Younis, where dozens of relatives paid their respects.
🚨Palestinian Red Crescent teams recovered the bodies of six martyrs from the Zourab family after their house was attacked by Israeli occupation forces in western Rafah in the south. #Loop Band.
📷 Filmed by PRCS volunteer: Mohamed Al-Saksik. pic.twitter.com/lpxJGfJaew— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) June 30, 2024
Residents said the Israeli army had set fire to the Al-Awda mosque in central Rafah, one of the city's best-known mosques.
Israel has said its military operations in Rafah are aimed at eradicating the last armed Hamas battalions and continues to severely restrict the entry of much-needed humanitarian aid, medicine and fuel into the enclave, which is on the brink of famine.
The United Nations and other aid agencies have expressed alarm at the dire humanitarian crisis and threat of famine brought on Gaza's 2.4 million people by the Israeli attack and siege.
“It's all rubble,” said Louise Wateridge of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), speaking Friday from the town of Khan Younis.
“There is no water, no sanitation, no food. And now, people are living again in these buildings that are empty shells.”
