Israeli forces are advancing on the southern city of Rafah, aiming to destroy what Israeli officials have called the last significant Hamas stronghold in Gaza, at the same time that Israel and the militant group are again clashing in areas in the north. The Gaza Health Ministry said Monday that the health system in the strip will collapse within “a few hours” due to a lack of fuel needed to power generators and ambulances, after similar warnings from aid agencies last week.
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End of carouselNearly 360,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah in the week since Israel ordered its civilians to evacuate, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said Monday. Israel says the evacuations will protect civilians from being caught up in looming battles, while aid groups say there is nowhere safe for them to go.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS’s “Face the Nation” that any Israeli conquest of Rafah is “not sustainable” without a credible plan for postwar Gaza. “A lot of armed Hamas will be left no matter what they do in Rafah,” he said.
Approximately 100,000 people in Tel Aviv attended an Independence Day rally hosted by the Hostage Families Forum, according to the organizers. Israelis have struggled with how to commemorate Memorial Day, which is followed at sundown by Independence Day.
At a Monday Memorial Day ceremony in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu framed military victory in existential terms for the Jewish state while acknowledging that the price the nation was paying for it was a “very heavy” one.
The Israeli military said fighter jets struck some 30 targets over the weekend in the Jabalya area in northern Gaza, where Hamas has regrouped after Israeli forces claimed victory following weeks of intense combat with militants last year. Blinken mentioned Khan Younis, a major city in southern Gaza, as another place where Hamas is coming back.
The death toll in Gaza has risen to 35,091, and 78,827 people have been injured in the enclave since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children.
Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, including more than 300 soldiers, and says 272 soldiers have been killed since the launch of its military operation in Gaza.
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Skip to end of carousel
End of carouselNearly 360,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah in the week since Israel ordered its civilians to evacuate, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said Monday. Israel says the evacuations will protect civilians from being caught up in looming battles, while aid groups say there is nowhere safe for them to go.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS’s “Face the Nation” that any Israeli conquest of Rafah is “not sustainable” without a credible plan for postwar Gaza. “A lot of armed Hamas will be left no matter what they do in Rafah,” he said.
Approximately 100,000 people in Tel Aviv attended an Independence Day rally hosted by the Hostage Families Forum, according to the organizers. Israelis have struggled with how to commemorate Memorial Day, which is followed at sundown by Independence Day.
At a Monday Memorial Day ceremony in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu framed military victory in existential terms for the Jewish state while acknowledging that the price the nation was paying for it was a “very heavy” one.
The Israeli military said fighter jets struck some 30 targets over the weekend in the Jabalya area in northern Gaza, where Hamas has regrouped after Israeli forces claimed victory following weeks of intense combat with militants last year. Blinken mentioned Khan Younis, a major city in southern Gaza, as another place where Hamas is coming back.
The death toll in Gaza has risen to 35,091, and 78,827 people have been injured in the enclave since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children.
Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, including more than 300 soldiers, and says 272 soldiers have been killed since the launch of its military operation in Gaza.
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