FALCON POWERS – The Israeli army bombed the city of Rafah in southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, following a tour in the Middle East by U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken seeking to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
After more than eight months since the start of the war, the United States is striving to secure an agreement based on a plan announced by President Joe Biden, to which the Palestinian movement has responded with an initial response through the mediating countries, while Israel has not officially announced its position on it.
Intense artillery shelling and air strikes targeted several areas in the Palestinian enclave at dawn on Thursday, including the city of Rafah bordering Egypt, according to AFP correspondents.
The Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced that its elements are engaged in street fighting against Israeli soldiers in western Rafah, where eyewitnesses reported that Apache helicopters were opening fire.
In the center of the enclave, the civil defense announced the discovery of three bodies in a house that was bombed in the Nuseirat camp.
“We’re Tired”
The Israeli army launched a ground offensive on Rafah on May 7, forcing one million Palestinians to flee according to the United Nations, most of whom have been displaced several times due to the war.
Israel considered this offensive necessary to eliminate Hamas, but the fighting has resumed in recent weeks in several other areas, especially in the center of the enclave.
Abu Shaker, a resident of Gaza City in the besieged northern Gaza Strip, said, “Doesn’t Hamas know that we are tired? We have died and been destroyed. The war must end.”
In the Al-Bureij camp (central), Izzedine Al-Balabisi said, “Enough, we’re tired. Every day we move to an area, our children are young, we can’t find food and drink, and anything, we call on the whole world to stand with us to stop the injustice we are facing.”
In northern Israel, the alarm sirens sounded again on Thursday, according to the army.
On Wednesday, the Lebanese Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, unleashed a barrage of rockets on northern Israel, vowing to intensify its attacks in retaliation for the assassination of a senior figure in its ranks in an Israeli airstrike that targeted southern Lebanon.
“Pressure” on Israel
On Wednesday in Doha, Blinken affirmed that the United States will continue to work with other mediating countries to achieve a ceasefire.
He added, “The longer this goes on, the more people will suffer, and the time has come to stop the bargaining.”
