World News | The Latest | 3 Israeli Soldiers Killed in a Booby Trap Explosion as Rafah Offensive Widens
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. Three Israeli soldiers have been killed in Rafah when a booby trap exploded, the military and media reported, as the Israeli national security adviser said that the war against Hamas militants would likely last through the end of the year.
Jerusalem, May 29 (AP) Three Israeli soldiers have been killed in Rafah when a booby trap exploded, the military and media reported, as the Israeli national security adviser said that the war against Hamas militants would likely last through the end of the year.
Three other soldiers were wounded in the explosion Tuesday, media reported. The military says at least 290 soldiers have been killed since the ground operation in Gaza began in October.
In an interview Wednesday with Israel's Kan public broadcaster, Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said the war would likely last through the rest of 2024.
“We are expecting another seven months of fighting” to destroy the military and governing capabilities of Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group, he said.
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Israel says it is carrying out limited operations in eastern Rafah along the Gaza-Egypt border. Palestinians in Rafah reported heavy fighting Wednesday. The United States and other allies of Israel have warned against a full-fledged offensive in the city, warning of a humanitarian catastrophe.
Fighting in Rafah has already spurred more than 1 million Palestinians to flee, most of whom had already been displaced in the war between Israel and Hamas. They now seek refuge in makeshift tent camps and other war-ravaged areas, where they lack shelter, food, water and other essentials for survival, the UN says.
Israeli bombardments and ground offensives in Gaza have killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas' October 7 attack in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250. Israel says around 100 hostages are still captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more.
Here's the latest:
ISRAELI FORCES BEAR RESPONSIBILITY FOR DEADLY TENT CAMP FIRE IN RAFAH, SAYS PALESTINIAN HEALTH MINISTER: 'THEY PULLED THE TRIGGER'
GENEVA — The Palestinian health minister said Wednesday that Israeli forces should not have launched airstrikes that set fire to a tent camp housing displaced Palestinians and insisted that no matter the exact cause of dozens of deaths there, “they pulled the trigger” in a military operation.
Israel's military has suggested the airstrikes sparked a secondary explosion, possibly from Palestinian militants' weapons, and caused the huge fire that swept through the tents. Gaza health officials say 45 people were killed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the fire resulted from a “tragic mishap.”
Dr. Maged Abu Ramadan said Israeli forces never should never have attacked the zone around the tent camp.
“They know that this is an area for civilians. It was designated by the IDF itself,” he said, using an acronym for the Israeli military. “It is simple. Whatever the cause, whether it was their bomb or it was something else. It is therefore they triggered -- they pulled the trigger.”
Abu Ramadan also cited press reports about the types of weapons used by Israeli forces, insisting that no matter the size of the bombs, “killing is killing.”
He said Israel has not offered Palestinian authorities any indication about when a critical border crossing at Rafah could be reopened to allow badly needed humanitarian aid into Gaza and the evacuation of wounded and ill patients.
He called on the United States to “press hard” to get Israel to reopen the crossing. Israeli troops seized the Rafah border crossing three weeks ago, and all land crossings are now entirely controlled by Israel.
Abu Ramadan is the minister of health for the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. He spoke to reporters on the sidelines of the World Health Organisation's annual assembly in Geneva.
WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN SUSPENDS MAIN OPERATIONS IN GAZA
World Central Kitchen said Wednesday that “ongoing attacks” in the Israeli offensive on Rafah had forced it to suspend operation of its main kitchen there.
The group also is having to move many of its smaller kitchens farther north in Gaza, away from the offensive, it said in a post on X.
A growing Israeli military push this month into the Rafah area in pursuit of Hamas has uprooted a million people from the city, according to the UN. Rafah had been crowded with families seeking refuge as Israel's offensive in Gaza pushed south across Gaza.
One of the group's kitchens in the city of Deir al-Balah, one of the sites where displaced Palestinians are fleeing to now in their latest quest for safety, was now serving up the biggest shares of meals, World Central Kitchen said in a separate statement.
Opening Sunday of the border crossing between Gaza and Israel, which had been closed for weeks after Israeli forces took over the Palestinian side of the border, has been “critical to get much needed supplies,” World Central Kitchen said in the statement.
The group has been able to get in nearly 60 trucks in the three days since, it said.
World Central Kitchen, a global disaster relief programme run by chef Jose Andres, earlier had suspended its work in Gaza after a targeted Israeli attack on April 1 killed seven of its workers. The group announced its return to operations there late last month.
SEN. GRAHAM SLAMS UN COURT, CALLS ITS CHIEF JUSTICE 'ANTISEMITE'
JERUSALEM — US Sen. Lindsey Graham on Wednesday slammed the top United Nations court, calling it “a joke” and its chief justice “a raving antisemite.”
Graham made the comments in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, on the senator's fifth visit to Israel since the Israel-Hamas war began in October.
Graham's remarks came days after the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that Israel must halt its offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah immediately.
Graham also promised action against the International Criminal Court, whose prosecutor has requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his defense minister and three Hamas leaders on war crimes charges.
“We will do all we can … to hold the ICC (to) account for this outrage against the people of Israel,” said Graham, a Republican from South Carolina.
Senate Republicans have threatened sanctions against ICC personnel over the decision. The Biden administration has also criticized the decision and said it would work with lawmakers to come up with an appropriate response, should one be needed.
ISRAELI OFFICIAL SAYS WAR LIKELY TO LAST THROUGH END OF YEAR
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel's national security adviser says the war with Hamas is likely to last through the end of the year.
In an interview with Israel's Kan public broadcaster on Wednesday, Tzachi Hanegbi said “we are expecting another seven months of fighting” to destroy the military and governing capabilities of Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group.
His remarks came as Israel finds itself increasingly isolated on the world stage nearly eight months into the war triggered by Hamas' October 7 attack, with even the United States and other close allies expressing outrage over the toll on civilians.
Hanegbi defended Israel's ongoing operations in Rafah, on Gaza's border with Egypt, saying the frontier had become a “smuggling kingdom” since Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007.
“Every rocket, every explosive device, every shot fired at Israel is because that border was breached,” he said.
He said Israel now controls around 75 per cent of the narrow buffer zone between Egypt and Gaza that was created as part of the 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.
Egypt has expressed grave concerns about Israel's Rafah offensive, saying it threatens the peace treaty.
TURKISH PRESIDENT SLAMS ISRAEL'S NETANAHU, CALLING HIM A VAMPIRE AFTER STRIKES ON RAFAH
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, calling him a psychopath and a “vampire that feeds on blood” following Israeli airstrikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah that triggered a deadly fire in a camp for displaced people.
In a speech to legislators from his ruling party, Erdogan held the United States and European nations responsible for the deaths while also criticising the Islamic Cooperation Organisation for failing to take joint action against Israel.
“Oh, the American state, this blood is on your hands also. You are responsible for this genocide at least as much as Israel. Oh, the heads of state and government of Europe, you are also a party to Israel's genocide, this barbarism, this vampire-like act of Israel, because you remained silent,” Erdogan said. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)