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Live blog: 35 Palestinians killed in Israeli raids on Rafah in 24 hours
Israel’s war on besieged Gaza, now in its 215th day, has killed at least 34,789 Palestinians — 70 percent of them babies, children and women — and wounded over 78,204.
Palestinians leave their homes following Israeli airstrike on east of Rafah. / Photo: AA
AA
Palestinians leave their homes following Israeli airstrike on east of Rafah. / Photo: AA
Wednesday, May 8, 2024
0850 GMT — At least 35 Palestinians were killed and 129 others injured as a result of the Israeli intense air strikes on Rafah, southern Gaza, in the past 24 hours, a medical source said.
The medical source also said the Palestinian victims are those who arrived at the Kuwait Hospital in Rafah city, adding that children and women are among them.
0205 GMT — UN says running out of fuel in Gaza as border crossings remain shut
Critical diesel fuel to pump drinking water, maintain communications and deliver aid in Gaza will run out and it’s estimated that food already in the south will be gone by the end of the week, a senior UN humanitarian official has said following Israel’s closure of the two key crossing points into the territory.
Andrea De Domenico, the head of the UN’s humanitarian office in the Palestinian territories, said that Israel’s military operation and evacuation order in Rafah has resulted in “the forced displacement of tens of thousands of people.”
The area Israel told Palestinians to go is mainly sand dunes and has no latrines, water points, drainage, shelter or health facilities, De Domenico said in a virtual news conference from Jerusalem.
The Israelis are not on the ground providing services and are looking for humanitarian partners, he said.
It is impossible to improve conditions without the arrival of supplies and fuel to transport them to the new locations. Without fuel and more flour, he said, the 16 bakeries supported by the UN World Food Program throughout Gaza will be forced to suspend operations.
If supplemental nutrition supplies can’t be delivered, the treatment of more than 3,000 children suffering from acute malnutrition will be interrupted, he said, and three of the main remaining hospitals “will become inoperable.”
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0533 GMT — Israel launches fresh Gaza strikes as negotiators work towards truce
Israel struck targets in Gaza after seizing the main border crossing with Egypt, where negotiators were working to make good on their “last chance” to cement a ceasefire deal.
After weeks of vowing to launch a ground incursion into the border city of Rafah despite international objections, Israeli tanks moved in Tuesday, capturing the crossing that has served as the main conduit for aid into the besieged Palestinian territory.
The push into the southern city, which is packed with displaced civilians, came as negotiators and mediators met in Cairo to try and hammer out a hostage release deal and truce in the seven-month war between Israel and Hamas.
A senior Hamas official, requesting anonymity, warned this would be Israel’s “last chance” to free the scores of hostages.
0253 GMT — US military says Yemen’s Houthis launched three drones, no injuries or damage
The US military has said that Iranian-aligned Houthis launched three “uncrewed aerial systems” (UAS) from Yemen, but caused no injuries or damage.
A coalition ship successfully engaged one UAS, US Central Command forces successfully engaged the second UAS, and the final UAS crashed in the Gulf of Aden, Central Command said in a statement.
0202 GMT — Yemen’s Houthis warn of ‘broader escalation’ if Israel invades Rafah
Yemen’s Houthi group has threatened to expand its attacks on shipping if the Israeli army invaded the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.
“The Israeli escalation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and their threat to invade Rafah will be met with a Yemeni response and the launching of the fourth round of escalation,” Allama Muhammad Muftah, the chairman of the Houthi-run Supreme Committee for Supporting Al Aqsa, told the Al-Masirah TV channel.
“In case of any escalation (in Rafah), the Yemeni armed forces’ decision is clear, and a more extensive and broader escalation may occur,” he said.
He added that the group’s escalation would be “a response to any Israeli audacity, whether an attack on Yemen, Gaza, or any inch of occupied Palestine.”
0058 GMT — Int’l community failed to prevent Israel from invading Rafah: Egypt
Egypt’s foreign minister has criticised the international community over its inability to prevent the Israeli army’s invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which is home to more than 1.5 million displaced Palestinians who have taken refuge from the brutal war launched by Israel on Oct. 7.
“The international community has failed to prevent Israel from invading Rafah,” Sameh Shoukry was quoted by Egyptian media as saying.
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0018 GMT — Israel kills 7 members of same family in strike on Gaza home
Israel has killed at least seven members of the same family and wounded several others in an air strike on a home in Gaza City, Al-Ahli Hospital reported.
The casualties from an Israeli strike on an apartment in the devastated northern city were reported by Al-Ahli Hospital said, with eyewitnesses also reporting strikes elsewhere in the besieged enclave, particularly around Rafah.
0014 GMT — Palestinian resistance groups fight invading Israeli troops in Rafah
Clashes continue between the invading Israeli military and Palestinian resistance groups in the eastern part of Rafah city in southern Gaza.
Israeli warplanes and artillery also targeted the municipality headquarters, land near the border with Egypt and homes, resulting in many casualties, Anadolu Agency reported.
The Palestinian resistance group Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, said in a statement that they targeted an Israeli Merkava tank with a Yasin 105 shell and set it on fire.
The brigades added that they engaged in clashes with Israeli soldiers positioned inside a building in the Shouka neighbourhood in Rafah.
In another statement, they said they targeted Israeli forces with a Rajoum short-range missile and heavy-caliber mortar shells.
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2346 GMT — Israeli army intercepts suspected drone heading toward Red Sea port
The Israeli occupation military has said it has intercepted a “suspicious aerial target” that was headed toward the Red Sea port of Eilat [Umm al-Rashrash in Arabic].
The military said the drone was launched from the east and intercepted outside of Israeli airspace. It gave no further details on the source of the launch.
Yemen’s Houthi group have repeatedly fired missiles and drones toward Israel throughout the seven-month war in Gaza in solidarity with the Palestinians resisting the Israeli invasion in Gaza.
For our live updates from Tuesday, May 7, click here.
SOURCE: TRTWORLD AND AGENCIES
