Israeli forces on Friday struck targets across the Gaza Strip, with witnesses reporting air raids around the southern city of Rafah, the latest focus of the nearly eight-month war.

Israel launched its military incursion into Rafah in early May despite international objections over the safety of civilians sheltering in the city on Gaza’s border with Egypt.

Witnesses said on Friday Israeli strikes hit the Rafah area as well as central Gaza’s Nuseirat while intense bombardment was reported in the north.

Strikes on two separate locations killed a total of 11 persons overnight, medical sources at a hospital in Deir al-Balah and the Nuseirat refugee camp reported.

The Israeli military said its forces were “operating in central Gaza”, where it earlier announced forces had found rocket launchers, weapons and “tunnel shafts”.

An air strike “targeted and eliminated” a militant in the Rafah area, the military said.

In central Gaza, further air strikes “eliminated several terrorists who operated near” troops, the military said without elaborating.

Israel, which has repeatedly vowed to destroy Hamas after the Palestinian militant group attacked southern Israel on October 7, said on Wednesday its forces had taken over the 14-km Philadelphi corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border, where it alleges weapons were being smuggled.

Egypt, a longtime mediator in the conflict, has yet to officially comment on the Israeli takeover, which officials have previously said could violate the two countries’ 1979 peace deal.

Amid stalled diplomatic efforts towards a ceasefire, Hamas said it had informed mediators it would only agree a “comprehensive” truce agreement including a hostage-prisoner swap if Israel halts its “aggression”.

Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’s Qatar-based political office, reiterated in a Friday that the group’s core demands — including a permanent ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal — “are non-negotiable”.

He accused Israel of “using negotiations as a cover to continue its aggression”, saying Hamas “refuses to be a part of these manoeuvres”.

On Thursday, Israel said its forces had killed about 300 Palestinian militants in Rafah since launching its military operation in the city.

A stream of civilians fled Rafah, taking their belongings on their shoulders, in cars or on donkey-drawn carts.

Aid at sea

Before the Rafah offensive began, the United Nations said up to 1.4 million people were sheltering in the city. Since then, one million have fled the area, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has said.

The United Nations has warned of looming famine in Gaza.

The Israeli seizure of the Rafah crossing has further slowed sporadic deliveries of aid for Gaza’s 2.4 million people and effectively shuttered the territory’s main exit point.

However, Israel said at the weekend that aid deliveries had been stepped up, including through its Kerem Shalom crossing with Gaza.

Cyprus, the European Union’s easternmost member, said humanitarian aid shipped to Gaza was being kept at sea off the territory’s coast, after a US-built pier was damaged in bad weather.

Cypriot government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said Friday the maritime corridor was “uninterrupted” and the pier would be “back on track” within days.

“Our goal… is to be able to help half a million people per month, and we think that this goal is achievable,” he said.

In an interview on French channel LCI, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed as “anti-Semitic slander” accusations Israel was deliberately targeting and starving Gazan civilians.

Mr. Netanyahu said the ratio of militants to civilians killed so far in the Israeli offensive was “the lowest rate we have seen in an urban war”.

Car, house hit

The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,189 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,224 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

A medical official at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah said eight people, including two children, were killed in an air strike that hit a house in Al-Bureij refugee camp.

Another source at Nuseirat’s Al-Awda Hospital reported three deaths in a strike on a car.

An AFP correspondent saw Israeli military vehicles southwest of Gaza City, in the territory’s north.

The military announced the deaths of two soldiers in Gaza, taking to 294 the number of Israeli troops killed since the start of ground operations in late October.

An Israeli strike Sunday that sparked a fire and killed dozens in a displacement camp in Rafah drew a wave of fresh condemnation and prompted two days of discussions at the UN Security Council.

Israel has said it targeted a Hamas compound and killed two senior members.

After the strike, Algeria presented a draft resolution to the UN Security Council demanding an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages, but it was unclear when it would be voted on.

Israeli tanks mounted raids across Rafah in defiance of the World Court for a second day on May 29, after Washington said the assault did not amount to a major ground operation in the southern Gazan city that U.S. officials have warned Israel to avoid.

Israel sent its tanks into the heart of Rafah for the first time on Tuesday, despite an order from the International Court of Justice to end its attacks on the city, where many Palestinians had taken refuge from widespread bombardment.

Editorial | Punishing Hamas: On Israel and the ICJ ruling

The United States, Israel’s closest ally, reiterated its opposition to a major Israeli ground offensive in Rafah but said on Tuesday it did not believe such an operation was under way.

Rafah residents said on Wednesday that Israeli tanks had pushed into Tel Al-Sultan in western Rafah and Yibna and near Shaboura in the centre before retreating towards a buffer zone on the border with Egypt, in contrast with offensives elsewhere.

Israel’s military controlled three quarters of the buffer zone and aimed to control all of it to prevent Hamas smuggling in weapons, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi said.

He expected fighting in Gaza to continue throughout 2024 at least, he said, signalling Israel was not ready to heed international calls to agree a ceasefire with the Hamas militants who run Gaza and exchange the hostages they hold for Palestinian prisoners.

The armed wings of Hamas and its allies Islamic Jihad said they confronted the invading forces with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs and blew up previously planted explosive devices.

Also read | The ICJ ruling on Israel’s Rafah offensive and its implications | Explained

The Israeli military said three soldiers were killed and three others badly wounded in combat in southern Gaza, without elaborating. Israel’s public broadcaster Kan radio said they were hurt by an explosive device set off in a building in Rafah.

Palestinian health officials said several people were wounded by Israeli fire in eastern Rafah and stores of aid were set ablaze. Residents said constant Israeli bombardment overnight destroyed many homes in the area, from where most people have fled after orders by Israel to evacuate.

Some residents reported seeing what they described as unmanned robotic armoured vehicles opening fire from machine guns in some parts of the city.

Internet and mobile signals went down in parts of both east and west amid heavy Israeli air and ground bombardment, the pro-Hamas Shehab news agency, residents and other journalists said. The Israeli military said it could not confirm the reports.

In northern Gaza, tanks shelled several Gaza City neighbourhoods, and forces thrust deeper into Jabalia, the largest of the enclave’s eight biggest historic refugee camps, where residents said large residential districts were destroyed.

Healthcare needed immediately in Rafah and North Gaza, Palestinian Health Ministry says

Gaza’s Health Ministry said several hospitals in areas where the army is operating had stopped functioning. Spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra called for immediate safe pathways for fuel, medical aid and medical teams to Rafah and northern Gaza.

“The Israeli occupation deliberately finished off the healthcare presence in Rafah and the north,” Qidra’s statement said adding that there was no help for people wounded there.

Around a million Palestinians who had taken shelter in Rafah at the southern end of the Gaza Strip from Israel’s offensives elsewhere have now fled after Israeli orders to evacuate, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA reported on Tuesday.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said it had evacuated its medical teams from its field hospital in the Al-Mawasi area, a designated civilian evacuation zone, citing “continued artillery and air bombardments” in the vicinity.

The World Court said in its ruling on Friday that Israel had not explained how it would keep the Rafah evacuees safe and provide food, water and medicine. Israel said the order allowed room for some military action to root out Hamas fighters there.

In the nearby city of Khan Younis, an Israeli air strike killed three people overnight, including Salama Baraka, a former senior Hamas police officer, medics and Hamas media said.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said one of its staff, Issam Aqel, was killed in an Israeli air strike on his house in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, taking to 30 the number of staff killed since Oct 7, at least 17 of them killed on duty.

Israel delivered its latest ceasefire and hostage release proposal to Qatar, and Qatar was to provide it to Hamas on Tuesday, a person familiar with the issue said. There was no immediate word on Wednesday from Hamas, which has said talks are pointless unless Israel ends its offensive on Rafah.

More than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza , the enclave’s health ministry said.

Israel launched its air and ground war after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Malnutrition is widespread in Gaza as aid deliveries have slowed to a trickle, with international aid agencies accusing Israel of blocking their distribution attempts and Israel blaming the agencies.

In a further blow to aid efforts, part of a new aid pier put in place by the U.S. military off Gaza’s coast broke off, probably due to bad weather, putting it out of operation temporarily, two U.S. officials said on Tuesday.

At least 27 people were killed in a fire at a sprawling children’s game zone built in a temporary structure in Rajkot on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

27 killed in blaze at Rajkot gaming zone

At least 27 people were killed in a fire at a sprawling children’s game zone built in a temporary structure in Rajkot on Saturday. The toll is likely to rise once the debris is cleared from the area. 

61.2% turnout in sixth phase amid stray incidents of violence in Bengal

The sixth and penultimate phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha election saw a voter turnout of 61.20% till 11.45 p.m. on Saturday. Sporadic incidents of violence were reported from West Bengal which reported the highest polling percentage at 79.47.

Cyclonic storm Remal to cross West Bengal, Bangladesh coast on Sunday midnight

The deep depression over east-central Bay of Bengal on Saturday evening intensified into a cyclonic storm “Remal” and is likely to cross Bangladesh and adjoining West Bengal coasts by Sunday midnight.

Cyclone Remal: Kolkata airport to suspend flight operations for 21 hours from May 25 noon

The authorities of Kolkata airport have decided to suspend flight operations for 21 hours from May 25 noon in view of the possible impact of cyclone Remal, an official said in Kolkata.

Approximate voter turnout trend of 54.37% recorded in Delhi

An approximate voter turnout trend of 54.37% was recorded in Delhi, according to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), who added that this was not the final voting percentage as approximate trends from some polling booths would take time, and the figures did not include postal ballot data.

UAPA tribunal upholds MHA ban against seven Meitei extremist organisations

A tribunal under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) has upheld the Centre’s decision to declare seven valley based Meitei extremist organisations as “unlawful associations” for the next five years.

Cannes 2024: Payal Kapadia’s ‘All We Imagine as Light’ scripts history for India, wins Grand Prix

In a historic win for India, Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light bagged the Grand Prix, the second-highest award at the Cannes Film Festival, on Saturday night.

PM Modi’s remarks belie his anxiety over elections, says Kharge

With just four days left before campaigning for the 2024 Lok Sabha election draws to a close, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks, made at election rallies in Bihar, where he accused the Opposition of performing mujra (a dance form associated with courtesans) for the Muslim vote bank, has come under sharp criticism from the Opposition, with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge claiming that Mr. Modi’s comments belied his anxiety over the election results. 

Israel strikes Rafah after top UN court orders it to halt offensive

Israeli air strikes and artillery pounded Rafah, despite the UN’s top court ordering an immediate halt to its military offensive in the southern Gazan city.

FA Cup final: Garnacho, Mainoo seal stunning Cup win for Manchester United

Manchester United saved their best performance of a mediocre season to the very end as they upset Manchester City 2-1 in the FA Cup final on May 25 to deprive their rivals of the double.

U.S. rapper Nicki Minaj held by police at Amsterdam airport

American rapper Nicki Minaj said on social media on Saturday that she was held at Amsterdam Schiphol airport on allegations of possession of soft drugs.