Israel’s tanks push into Jabalia in north Gaza

Israel's tanks pushed into the heart of Jabalia in northern Gaza yesterday, facing anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs from Hamas members concentrated there, while in the south, its forces pounded Rafah without advancing, Palestinian residents and Hamas said.

The slow progress of Israel's offensive, more than seven months after it was prompted by Hamas' deadly cross-border raid, highlighted the difficulty of achieving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's aim of eradicating the group.

Armed wings of Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad have been able to fight up and down the Gaza Strip, using heavily fortified tunnels to stage attacks in both the north - the focus of Israel's initial invasion - and new battlegrounds like Rafah.

• S Africa seeks halt to Israel's Rafah offensive at ICJ
• Egypt rejects Israeli plans for Rafah crossing
• Death toll in enclave rises to 35,272
   

"The operation in Rafah is still limited in space and in targets," military spokesperson Lt Col Nadav Shoshani said, adding that its attacks were based on specific intelligence.

At least 35,272 Palestinians have been killed and 79,205 have been wounded in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since October 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement yesterday. The toll includes at least 39 deaths over the past 24 hours, it said.

Egypt has rejected an Israeli proposal for the two countries to coordinate to re-open the Rafah crossing between Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip, and to manage its future operation, two Egyptian security sources said.

South Africa yesterday asked the top UN court to order an immediate halt to Israel's incursion in Rafah, describing it as a "genocidal" operation threatening the "very survival of Palestinians".

Top lawyers for Pretoria kicked off two days of hearings at the Peace Palace, home of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), imploring judges to order a ceasefire throughout Gaza. Israel will respond today.

The United States anchored a temporary floating pier to a beach in Gaza yesterday to boost aid deliveries, but it was still unclear how it would be distributed given the challenges that have beset the United Nations and relief groups for months.

Israel declared major operations over in northern Gaza months ago while pledging to return to prevent Hamas regrouping. Israel said yesterday that five of its troops were killed by friendly fire in a Gaza battle.

Yesterday, around a week after they moved back in, Israeli tanks were heavily bombarding the main market in the heart of Jabalia, a decades-old refugee camp, and several stores there caught fire, residents and Hamas media outlets said.

"They are bombing like crazy, destroying the houses and the main market in the camp," one of the camp's residents told Reuters via a chat app.

In Gaza City to the south, medical teams and the Civil Emergency services said they were continuing the search for casualties in the suburbs of Zeitoun and Sabra after dozens of bodies were recovered in the wake of a six-day army raid there.

In the southern tip of Gaza, tanks held their positions in eastern neighbourhoods and outskirts of Rafah while keeping up pressure with aerial and ground bombardments.

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli troops shot and killed three men during clashes, Palestinian officials said early yesterday.