Many Palestinians were seeking shelter on Wednesday after fleeing their homes in southern Gaza and complained of water shortages as Israel pressed on with its military offensive in the densely populated enclave.
An Israeli tank manoeuvres near the Israel-Gaza border, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Israel, July 2, 2024. Reuters/Ammar Awad
Many Palestinians were seeking shelter on Wednesday after fleeing their homes in southern Gaza and complained of water shortages as Israel pressed on with its military offensive in the densely populated enclave.
Israeli forces carried out new strikes in the southern city of Rafah amid fierce fighting with Palestinian militants overnight, residents said. At least 12 people were killed in new strikes in central and northern Gaza, health officials said.
Tensions also rose between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah after the latest in frequent exchanges of fire across Israel's northern border with Lebanon since the start of the Gaza war.
Two security sources in Lebanon said an Israeli airstrike had killed a senior Hezbollah field commander, and Israel's defence minister said Israeli forces would be ready to take any action necessary against the Iran-aligned group.
"We are striking Hezbollah very hard every day and we will also reach a state of full readiness to take any action required in Lebanon, or to reach an arrangement from a position of strength. We prefer an arrangement, but if reality forces us we will know how to fight," Defence Minister Yoav Gallant was quoted as saying in a statement issued by his office.
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Mohammad Salem
Sheikh Rafeh Halabi, a senior figure in Israel’s Druze community who presents himself as dean of the descendants of the Prophet (Naqib al-Ashraf) for Jerusalem and president of the Jerusalem branch of an international human-rights organization, has sent a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump calling for immediate American action to halt what he describes as the starvation and extermination of Druze in Syria’s Sweida province.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Wednesday that the government does not plan to deport Palestinians from Gaza, after two Israeli ministers this month floated proposals for the mass removal of Palestinians from the coastal territory.
Israel will open its first embassy in Slovenia on Wednesday in a sign of warming relations after populist Janez Jansa formed a centre-right government following elections in March.
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