Fighting Rages In Gaza's Rafah After First Aid Delivery Via Pier

Rafah, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th May, 2024) Heavy clashes and bombardment Saturday rocked Gaza's southern city of Rafah as the Israeli military announced the first humanitarian aid had entered the besieged territory via a US-built pier.

The military said its air forces "struck over 70 targets" across the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours while ground troops "continue precise operations" in eastern Rafah.

More than 10 days into what the Israeli military called a "limited" operation in Rafah that sparked an exodus of Palestinians sheltering there, fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants has also flared again in Gaza's north.

The Kuwaiti hospital said an overnight Israeli strike killed two people in a displacement camp in Rafah, with witnesses reporting heavy gunfire and shelling in the city's southeast and jets bombarding its eastern areas.

The army said its forces "conducted targeted raids" in Rafah and found weapons and explosives.

AFP correspondents, witnesses and medics said there were intense battles overnight in the northern Jabalia refugee camp, after the Israeli army reported on Friday "perhaps the fiercest" violence in the town in more than seven months of war.

Israeli forces "eliminated terrorists in a number of battles" in the Jabalia area and parts of central Gaza, the army said.

Israel in early January said it had dismantled Hamas's command structure in northern Gaza, but the army said the Palestinian group -- whose October 7 attack sparked the ongoing war -- "was in complete control here in Jabalia until we arrived a few days ago".

The Israeli incursion into Rafah, launched despite overwhelming international opposition and as mediators were hoping for a breakthrough in stalled truce talks, has worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis, aid groups say.

With key land crossings closed or operating at limited capacity due to the fighting, some relief supplies began flowing into war-ravaged Gaza via a temporary, floating pier constructed by the United States.

The Israeli army said 310 pallets began moving ashore in "the first entry of humanitarian aid through the floating pier".