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Live: Israel launches more strikes on Rafah after ICJ order to halt military operations
Israel carried out strikes on Saturday and into Sunday morning throughout the Gaza Strip as fighting raged between the army and Palestinian militants. Witnesses reported heavy shelling in the southern city of Rafah early Sunday, two days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt military operations there. Read our liveblog for all the latest developments on the Israel-Hamas war.

Issued on: 26/05/2024 – 08:34

1 min
Smoke billows following Israeli bombardment in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on May 25, 2024.
Smoke billows following Israeli bombardment in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on May 25, 2024. © Eyad Baba, AFP
By:
FRANCE 24
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FRANCE 24
Summary:
Witnesses reported heavy shelling in the southern city of Rafah early Sunday, reported AFP, two days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt military operations there.

At least 35,903 Palestinians have been killed and 80,420 wounded in Israel’s war in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Some 1,170 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.

LIVE
24 minutes ago
Aid trucks begin entering Gaza through Kerem Shalom crossing: state-linked Egyptian media
Aid trucks from Egypt began entering the Gaza Strip on Sunday through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing, state-linked media Al-Qahera News reported.

A total of “200 trucks” had moved from the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, which has been shut since early May when Israel seized the Palestinian side of the terminal, to the Kerem Shalom crossing.

Al-Qahera News did not specify how many trucks had made their way through inspection into besieged Gaza, but said “four fuel trucks” had already crossed and were heading to hospitals.

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an hour ago
Egyptian Red Crescent: About 200 aid trucks expected to enter Gaza today
About 200 aid trucks, including four fuel trucks, are expected to enter Gaza today, Khaled Zayed, the head of the Egyptian Red Crescent Society in North Sinai, told Reuters.

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an hour ago
Witnesses report heavy shelling in Rafah and air strikes elsewhere in Gaza, reports AFP
Israel carried out strikes throughout the Gaza Strip on Saturday and into Sunday morning as fighting raged between the army and Palestinian militants.

Witnesses reported heavy shelling in Rafah and air strikes elsewhere in the Strip early Sunday, according to an AFP journalist on the ground.

Witnesses and AFP teams reported strikes or shelling on Saturday in Rafah, the central city of Deir al-Balah, and Gaza City and the Jabalia refugee camp in the north.

In Gaza City, an AFP photographer saw a grieving woman embracing one of several bodies, some of them children, which were shrouded in bloodstained white cloth and laid on the ground outside a clinic ahead of funerals.

They were killed in a strike on a school turned shelter in nearby Jabalia, relative Saleh al-Aswad told AFP.

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an hour ago
Thousands in Tel Aviv protest against Israeli government, demand that it bring back hostages
Scuffles between Israeli police and protesters erupted in Tel Aviv on Saturday after thousands gathered to demonstrate against the government and demand that it bring back the hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.

Some protesters in Tel Aviv carried photos of the women soldiers who appeared in a video earlier in the week showing them soon after they were abducted during the Hamas-led Ocotber 7 attacks on Israel. Some held banners reading “Stop the war” and “Help”. They called on the government to reach a deal to release the dozens of hostages still in captivity.

The protesters also called for the resignation of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and demanded new elections.

Thousands protested in Tel Aviv on May 25, 2024. Photo by AFP

“We all saw the video, we could not stay at home after the government abandoned all these people,” said Hilit Sagi, from the group “Women Protest for the Return of All Hostages”.

Divisions among Israelis have deepened over how Netanyahu has handled the war against Hamas after the attack that killed about 1,170 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. Israel says around 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more.

“Basically they are not doing enough in order for the hostages to come back, either with military force, with (a) hostages’ deal, negotiating. Nothing is being done,” said Snir Dahan, uncle of hostage Carmel Gat, still in captivity in Gaza.

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2 hours ago
Hamas’s armed wing says it captured Israeli soldier in Gaza’s Jabalia camp; Israel denies claim
The armed wing of Hamas said it had taken “prisoner” at least one Israeli soldier in an ambush on Saturday in the Gaza Strip, a claim Israel denied.

The Palestinian militant group targeted Israeli forces in a tunnel in the Jabalia camp and “all their members were killed, wounded or taken prisoner”, said Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

Hamas also broadcast images of a soldier being dragged along the ground, presenting the soldier as a captured Israeli. The images could not be immediately authenticated by AFP.

In a statement on Telegram, the Israeli army said it “clarifies that there is no incident in which a soldier was abducted”.

Israeli warplanes and artillery pounded Rafah on Saturday, as the government dismissed an order by the top UN court to halt its military offensive in the southern Gaza city.

At the same time, renewed international efforts were under way aimed at securing a ceasefire in the war sparked by the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on Israel.

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Yesterday’s key developments:
An Israeli official told AFP Saturday that the government had an “intention” to renew “this week” talks aimed at reaching a hostage release deal in Gaza, after a meeting in Paris between US and Israeli officials.

Israel bombed the Gaza Strip, including Rafah, on Saturday, despite an order from the UN’s top court for it to “immediately halt” its military offensive in the southern city.

About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:
Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent. For more on the health ministry’s casualty figures, click here.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)