Deir al-Bala, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas fired a barrage of rockets. Gaza Air raid sirens as far away as Tel Aviv went off for the first time in months on Sunday, marking the fallout from more than seven months of Israel’s massive air, sea and ground offensive.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in what appeared to be the first long-range rocket attack from Gaza since January. Hamas’s military wing claimed responsibility for the attack. Palestinian militants have fired sporadic rockets and mortar shells at communities along the Gaza border, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group’s military wing said it fired rockets at nearby communities later Sunday.
Israel’s military said eight rockets fired from the southern Gaza Strip hit Israel. Rafa, Israeli forces recently launched an incursion. It said “several” missiles were intercepted, and military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the missile at Rafah had been destroyed.
Earlier on Sunday, aid trucks entered Gaza from southern Israel under a new deal with Egypt to bypass the Rafah crossing after Israeli forces seized the Palestinian enclave. But it was not immediately clear whether humanitarian groups could access aid because of the fighting.
Egypt refuses to reopen its side of the Rafah crossing until it hands over control of the Gaza Strip to the Palestinians. Israel agreed to temporarily divert traffic through the Kerem Shalom crossing, Gaza’s main cargo terminal, after a call between US President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
But the Kerem Shalom crossing remains largely inaccessible due to Israel’s offensive in Rafah. Israel says it has allowed hundreds of trucks to enter, but United Nations agents say withdrawing aid is too risky.
Nearly 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war between Israel and Hamas, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The Ministry of Health reported that the bodies of 81 people killed by Israeli attacks have been brought to hospitals in the last 24 hours.
About 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes, severe hunger is widespread and parts of the territory, UN officials say. They experience famine.
Hamas thereby provoked the war October 7 Attack on Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostages. Hamas still holds 100 hostages and the remains of 30 released during last year’s ceasefire.
Southern Gaza is largely cut off from aid
Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera TV broadcast footage of what it said were trucks entering Gaza through Kerem Shalom. Khaled Said, head of the Egyptian Red Crescent in the Sinai Peninsula, which handles the delivery of aid from the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, said it planned to send 200 aid trucks and four fuel trucks to Kerem Shalom on Sunday.
Southern Gaza has been largely cut off from aid since Israel’s so-called limited incursion into Rafah on May 6. Since then, more than 1 million Palestinians have fled the city. Most were displaced from other parts of besieged Gaza.
Northern Gaza is still receiving aid through two land routes opened by Israel amid global outrage Seven aid workers were killed in Israeli attacks In April.
A few dozen trucks enter Gaza daily, but the capacity is less than the 150 trucks a day officials had hoped for. Aid groups say they need 600 trucks a day.
Netanyahu resists pressure to end war
Netanyahu said Israel needed to capture Rafah to eliminate the remaining battalions of Hamas and achieve “total victory” over the militants, where the army has recently been active in other parts of Gaza.
Netanyahu is facing growing pressure to strike a deal with Hamas to free the remaining hostages, which Hamas has refused without guarantees. The end of the war and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops. Netanyahu rejected it.
Clashes broke out between police and protesters in Tel Aviv on Saturday, as thousands gathered again to demand the return of the hostages. They demanded Netanyahu’s resignation and new elections.
The war increasingly isolates Israel on the world stage.
Last week, three European countries announced They will recognize the State of Palestineand Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court An arrest warrant was sought Netanyahu and Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Galant, along with three Hamas leaders.
Friday, the International Court of Justice Ordered Israel to end military offensive in Rafah. The UN High Court also said Israel should allow war crimes investigators to enter Gaza.
Israel is unlikely to comply and has condemned the ICC’s move towards arrest warrants. Israel says it makes every effort not to harm civilians and blames Hamas for the deaths because the militants operate in dense, residential areas.
Israel denies report of captured soldier
Hamas said it had captured an Israeli soldier during fighting in northern Gaza and released a video late Saturday showing a wounded man being dragged through a tunnel. Israel’s military has denied that any soldiers were captured, and Hamas has provided no other evidence to support its claim.
In a separate development, Israel’s military said it had detained a suspect who was widely circulated in a video of a man dressed as a soldier threatening to riot. In the video, the man says tens of thousands of soldiers are ready to obey the defense minister’s suggestion that the Palestinians rule Gaza after the war, pledging allegiance only to Netanyahu.
Army spokesman Hagari said the man had been removed from reserve duty. The person has not been publicly identified. It is unclear when and where this video was taken. Yar Netanyahu, the prime minister’s son, shared the video on social media, prompting criticism from political opponents. The Prime Minister’s Office issued a brief statement condemning all forms of military subordination.
___
Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Magdi from Cairo.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of the war https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
