The Israeli army said the incident was under investigation. “Initial investigations carried out suggest that there are no signs of an IDF (Israel Defense Forces) attack in the humanitarian area of al-Mawasi,” the army said.
Earlier, the army said its forces were carrying out “actions based on precise intelligence” in the Rafah area, where they engaged in close-quarters fighting and discovered tunnels used by militants.
The army said it had targeted a university that served as a Hamas headquarters over the past week, with militants opening fire on soldiers and finding weapons and barrel bombs. It did not name the university.
The army said its soldiers had killed dozens of militants in the center of Nuseira over the past week and discovered an arms cache containing Hamas-owned mortar shells and military equipment.
Some residents say Israeli attacks on Rafah have intensified over the past two days, with explosions and gunfire almost constant.
“Last night was one of the worst in western Rafah. Drones, planes, tanks and navy ships bombarded the area. We feel the occupying forces are trying to complete their control of the city,” Hatem, 45, said in a text message.
“They are under heavy attack from the resistance and that may be slowing them down.”
Attacks on Khan Yunis and Gaza City
More than eight months into the war in Gaza, Israeli forces are now focused on the last two areas they have yet to seize: around Rafah on the southern edge of Gaza and Deir al-Bala in the center.
“The entire city of Rafah is an Israeli military operational zone,” Rafah Mayor Ahmed al-Sofi said in a statement carried by Hamas-affiliated media on Friday.
“The city is facing a humanitarian catastrophe, with people dying in their tents because of Israeli bombing.”
Sofi said there were no functioning medical facilities in the city and remaining residents and displaced families lacked even basic necessities such as food and water.
Fewer than 100,000 people may remain in the western edge of the city, where more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents were displaced before the Israeli offensive began in early May, according to Palestinian and UN figures.
In nearby Khan Yunis, an Israeli airstrike killed three people, including a father and son, on Friday, medical sources said.
At the same time, Israeli forces launched a new offensive into the outskirts of Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip, battling Hamas-led militants.
Residents said Israeli forces destroyed many homes in central Gaza City on Thursday.
Israeli airstrikes killed five people, including four city hall employees, on Friday, according to Gaza’s civil emergency service, while rescuers searched the rubble for missing victims.
At least seven people were killed in the nearby Beach Camp when Israeli airstrikes hit homes, medical sources said.
Israel’s ground and air campaign began on Oct. 7 when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, leaving about 1,200 people dead and more than 250 taken hostage, according to an Israeli tally.
The attack has left Gaza in ruins, killing more than 37,400 people and leaving almost the entire population homeless and impoverished, according to Palestinian health officials.
Reuters.
