Israel presses with raids into Rafah

Rafah residents reported intense artillery shelling and gunfire in Gaza's far-southern city yesterday after Israel said it had seized Philadelphi corridor on the Palestinian territory's border with Egypt.

Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari announced that Israel had taken "operational control" of the narrow border area, where he said troops had "discovered around 20 tunnels".

Egypt, a longtime mediator in the conflict which has become increasingly vocal in its criticism of the Israeli operation, has rejected claims of smuggling tunnels running beneath the buffer zone.

"Israel is using these allegations to justify continuing the operation on the Palestinian city of Rafah and prolonging the offensive for political purposes," a high-level Egyptian source was quoted as saying by state-linked Al-Qahera News.

Egyptian officials have said a potential Israeli takeover of Philadelphi could violate the two countries' landmark 1979 peace deal, though there has been no official comment from Cairo since the military's announcement.

Meanwhile, the Slovenian government yesterday approved a decision to recognise an independent Palestinian state, Prime Minister Robert Golob said, following in the steps of Spain, Ireland and Norway.

"Today the government has decided to recognise Palestine as an independent and sovereign state," he said at a news conference in Ljubljana.

The parliament of the European Union member country must also approve the government's decision in coming days.

On a visit in Beijing, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called for increased humanitarian assistance to besieged Gaza, and reiterated his country's longstanding opposition to "any attempt at forcing Palestinians to forcibly flee their land".

Chinese leader Xi Jinping, meanwhile, called for a "broad-based, authoritative and effective international peace conference" to address the offensive, as he hosted Arab leaders including Sisi.

On the ground in the Gaza Strip, witnesses reported fighting in central and western Rafah. Witnesses also said Israeli forces had demolished several buildings in the city's eastern areas where the Israeli incursion began on May 7, initially focusing on the vital Rafah border crossing, a key entry point for humanitarian aid.

An AFP correspondent reported artillery and gunfire in Gaza City's southern neighbourhood of Zeitun, in the territory's north, where witnesses saw thick plumes of smoke rising over Jabalia refugee camp and Beit Lahia.

A steady stream of civilians fled Rafah, transporting their belongings on their shoulders, in cars or on donkey-drawn carts.

Gaza medical sources said 12 Palestinians, whom it said were civilians, had been killed and an unspecified number of others wounded in an Israeli airstrike as they tried to recover the body of a civilian in the centre of Rafah.

The Palestinian Red Crescent reported late Wednesday that two of its paramedics "were killed as a result of the Israeli occupation's direct bombing" of an ambulance near Rafah.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said yesterday that at least 36,224 people have been killed in the territory during more than seven months of offensive. The toll includes at least 53 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said.

In the wake of the strike, Algeria presented a draft UN resolution that "demands an immediate ceasefire respected by all parties" and the release of all hostages, but it was not clear when it would be put to a vote.

In a phone call with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Wednesday, France's Emmanuel Macron said Paris was "determined to work with Algeria" to ensure the council "makes a strong statement on Rafah".