Rafah crossing reopens, Israeli strikes kill 32 in Gaza
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Israel says it reopened the critical Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt but only in a limited capacity, allowing passage solely for Palestinian residents of the territory.
COGAT, the Israeli military agency that controls aid to Gaza, said in a statement that the crossing was actively being prepared for fuller operation, adding that residents of Gaza would begin to pass through the crossing once preparations were complete.
Palestinian security officers passed through the crossing’s Egyptian gate and headed toward the Palestinian gate to join an EU mission that will be supervising exit and entry, said an Egyptian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Ambulances also crossed through the Egyptian gate, the official added.
The head of the new Palestinian administrative committee governing Gaza’s daily affairs has said travel in both directions would start on Monday.
Rafah, which Palestinians see as their gateway to the world, has been largely shut since it was seized by Israel in May 2024.
About 20,000 Palestinian children and adults needing medical care are hoping to leave war-devastated Gaza via the crossing, and thousands of other Palestinians outside the territory hope to return home.
Zaher al-Wahidi, head of the Health Ministry’s documentation department in Gaza, said the ministry has not yet been notified about the start of medical evacuations.
Overnight Israel pounded the Gaza Strip with some of its most intense air strikes since the October ceasefire, killing more than 30 people including three girls from one family, in attacks on houses, tents and a police station, Palestinian health officials say.
The Israeli military said it was responding to a breach of the ceasefire the previous day, in which its troops had identified eight gunmen emerging from a tunnel in Rafah, an area in the south of the enclave controlled by Israeli forces under the truce.
It had targeted commanders, weapons caches and manufacturing sites belonging to Palestinian militant group Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad, the military said.
Hamas, which retains control of just under half of the Gaza Strip where nearly all its more than two million residents live mainly in makeshift tents and damaged buildings, said Israel had violated the truce.
It did not say whether any of its members or sites were struck in Saturday’s attacks.
The war began after Hamas-led gunmen attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Israeli officials have said the war could resume if Hamas does not lay down its weapons.
Israeli warplanes bombed the Sheikh Radwan police station west of Gaza City, killing 13 people, including five officers, police in Gaza said.
Rescue teams were searching for more casualties at the site, the Hamas-run police said.
Other air strikes hit at least two houses in Gaza City, in northern-central Gaza, and a tent encampment sheltering displaced Palestinians in Khan Younis further south, local officials said.
Video footage from Gaza City showed charred, blackened and destroyed walls at an apartment in a multi-storey building, and debris scattered inside it and outside on the street.
Samer al-Atbash said the bodies of his three small nieces had been found in the street.
“They say ‘ceasefire’ and all. What did those children do? What did we do?” he said.
The Gaza civil defence rescue service put Saturday’s death toll at 32.
Israel said in Friday’s encounter with fighters in Rafah its soldiers killed three and arrested a fourth, described as a Hamas commander.
Hamas did not comment on the incident.
with AP
Reuters
