Israeli tanks advanced to the center of Rafah for the first time on Tuesday; witnesses said, three weeks into a ground offensive in the southern Gaza city that has stirred global condemnation for its continued civilian toll.
Tanks and armored vehicles mounted with machineguns were spotted near Al-Awda mosque, a central Rafah landmark, the witnesses told Reuters.
The Israeli military said its forces continued to operate in the Rafah area without commenting on reported advances into the city center.
Overnight, its forces battered the city with airstrikes and tank fire, residents said, pressing the offensive despite an international outcry over an attack on Sunday that sparked a massive blaze in a tent camp, killing at least 45 Palestinians, more than half of them children, women and the elderly.
Global leaders voiced horror at the fire in a designated “humanitarian zone” where families uprooted by fighting elsewhere in Gaza had sought shelter and urged the implementation of a World Court order for a halt to Israel’s assault.
In another move purportedly aimed at reining in the violence, Spain, Ireland, and Norway were to recognize a Palestinian state on Tuesday officially.
The three countries have said they hope their decision will accelerate efforts towards securing a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas militants, now in its eighth month, that has reduced much of the densely populated territory to rubble.
Residents said Rafah’s Tel Al-Sultan neighborhood, the scene of Sunday’s night-time strike in which tents and shelters were set ablaze as families settled down to sleep, was still being bombarded.
“Tank shells are falling everywhere in Tel Al-Sultan. Many families have fled their houses in western Rafah under fire throughout the night,” one resident told Reuters via a chat app.
