Expansion of Gaza assault comes after deadly civilian strike, testing ties with U.S. And Arab allies
Witnesses reported Israeli tanks rumbled deeper into this southern Gaza city on Tuesday, passing near the iconic Al-Awda mosque as the military escalated its embattled offensive against Palestinian militants amid growing international outrage.
The armored incursion represented a doubling down of Israel’s high-stakes campaign to uproot Hamas’ militant infrastructure from Rafah after an Israeli airstrike on Sunday killed dozens of civilians taking shelter at a UN displacement camp. The deadly bombardment, which left scenes of bloodied women and children in its wake, has sparked global censure and strained Israel’s strategic ties with the United States and Arab partners.
While the Israeli military declined to comment on the specifics of Tuesday’s push into urban areas of Rafah, Army Radio reported that an additional brigade had been committed to the operation. That brought the total number of Israeli ground forces operating within the densely populated city to around 5,000 troops now engaged in close-quarters combat against hardened Hamas militants.
“They just keep coming and coming from every direction, smashing their way through whole neighborhoods with overwhelming firepower,” said Rafah resident Mohamed Khader, reached briefly by phone before the line cut out amid heavy barrages. “We’re being steadily driven from our homes at gunpoint as this brutal war burns its path across our city.”
The intensifying Israeli offensive appeared aimed at reversing weeks of stalemate that have mired ground troops in a bloody, entrenched battle for Rafah despite relentless airstrikes and artillery barrages. Hamas has proven resilient in the face of the onslaught, killing at least seven Israeli soldiers over the past week alone while unleashing fresh waves of rockets toward Israeli cities like Tel Aviv and Beersheba.
Yet the steadily mounting Palestinian civilian death toll, now topping 2,300 according to the Hamas-run health ministry, represents an immense complication in Israel‘s calculations. Scenes of the charred rubble and body bags being pulled from the Rafah displacement camp have reverberated worldwide, prompting fierce condemnation even from traditional Israeli allies like the Biden administration.
President Joe Biden, who has firmly backed Israel’s stated mission of degrading Hamas capabilities, warned Netanyahu in blunt terms Monday that the bombing of the UN civilian shelter appeared to cross “red lines” regarding the use of force.
“I made clear that if the recent reports are confirmed, these casualties represent a tragic violation of the core democratic principles and human rights laws that Americans, Israelis and leaders across the free world hold so dear,” Biden said, his voice heavy with solemnity.
The stern rebuke from Washington underscored the stakes facing Israel’s leadership with each passing day that its forces remain mired in the costly battle for Rafah. In addition to the civilian deaths, Israeli authorities have confirmed at least 65 of their own soldiers have been killed in action across Gaza over the past seven weeks.
Criticism has not simply emanated from traditional skeptics of the Israeli military’s conduct, but powerful Arab allies as well. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – two nations that took the historic step of normalizing relations with Israel amid hopes of fostering better regional cooperation and stability – both issued scathing condemnations of the Rafah strike and called for an immediate cease-fire.
From Cairo, the Arab League’s Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit warned the images of dead Palestinian civilians risked inflaming anti-Israel sentiment and unrest across the Middle East if the bombardments continued unabated. The veteran Egyptian diplomat urged the Israeli government to heed global calls for protecting bystanders, saying the “cycle of mindless bloodshed and tragic dead ends must cease immediately.”
At the heart of the diplomatic firestorm gripping Israel is Palestinian claims that its forces are willfully disregarding the laws of armed conflict and the sanctity of civilian lives in their zeal to pummel Hamas into submission. Images depicting what appeared to be Israeli troops using Palestinian civilians as human shields further compounded the international backlash against its conduct of the Rafah offensive.
Speaking at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour delivered a passionate diatribe accusing Israel of committing “state terrorism and war crimes against my defenseless people.” Mansour openly called for international intervention and war crimes investigations against Israel’s top political and military brass.
For its part, the Netanyahu government remained defiant in the face of the mounting international pressure. Officials acknowledged heavy Israeli bombardments have killed numerous Palestinians but insisted all targets were militants or areas utilized by Hamas to store weapons or stage attacks – a defense that did little to mollify critics.
Footage of Israeli forces using a vehicle-mounted loudspeaker in northern Gaza appeared to sum up the hardline approach, with Arabic messages blaring through the night air warning Palestinian civilians: “You have been living with terrorists – you need to get out from the areas of fighting before it’s too late.”
On the outskirts of Rafah, heavy plumes of dark smoke rose over the city skyline as the sounds of artillery echoed through its mostly empty streets. Those Palestinians fleeing described scenes of harrowing urban combat and unimaginable carnage being left in the wake of Israeli tanks systematically leveling entire city blocks.
Ahmad Qudra, a young construction worker who remained trapped in his Rafah apartment, said he could hear nearby artillery strikes from guns smaller than a tank’s main cannon, indicating the combat had tightened to just a block or two away.
“To be honest, I think many more civilians are going to die if the Israelis keep coming like this,” Qudra whispered into his phone as explosions crackled in the background. “We accepted our faith a long time ago – all we pray for is that our families’ bodies can have a proper burial when this is finished.”
