RAFAH, Palestinian Territories: Israel bombed Rafah on Wednesday as the military said ground troops carried out “targeted airstrikes” south of Gaza City in the east, with talks underway in Cairo to end the seven-month war.
Defying international objections, Israel sent tanks into Rafah, which is crowded with Palestinian civilians sheltering near the Egyptian border, and early Tuesday seized the crossing, which is the main channel for aid to the besieged territory.
The White House condemned the humanitarian aid cuts, with US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin later confirming reports that Washington had suspended the bomb shipment last week after Israel failed to address concerns over the long-threatened Rafah operation.
The Israeli military announced on Wednesday that it is reopening another major crossing for aid to Gaza, Kerem Shalom, as well as the Erez crossing.
But the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, said the Kerem Shalom crossing, which Israel closed after Sunday’s rocket attack that killed four soldiers, remained closed.
Late Wednesday, the Israeli military said a soldier was slightly injured when Kerem Shalom was again targeted by rockets.
This came after a night of heavy Israeli strikes and shelling in Gaza.
An emergency doctor working in Rafah and nearby Khan Yunis said the health situation was “catastrophic” with humanitarian access threatened.
“The smell of sewage is everywhere,” said doctor James Smith. “It’s been getting worse over the last few days.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that hospitals in southern Gaza have only “three days of fuel” left due to the border closure.
“Without fuel, all humanitarian operations will stop.”
Meanwhile, the state-run Hamas media office said medics had recovered at least 49 bodies from Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, the largest in the territory, which was devastated by two weeks of fighting in March.
The bodies were in a “third mass grave” where about 30 corpses were found last month, said Motassem Salah, head of the hospital’s emergency department.
There was no immediate comment from Israel, which accuses Hamas fighters of operating out of hospitals – a charge denied by the Palestinian group.
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Talks involving Qatari, American and Hamas delegations aimed at a ceasefire deal are underway in Cairo on Wednesday, Al-Qahera News, which is linked to Egyptian intelligence, said.
It noted that there were “points of contention” during the discussions, but also noted some “convergence” without elaborating.
According to a senior Hamas official, the latest round of talks would be “decisive”.
Qatar, which hosts the leader of Hamas and mediates between the two sides, appealed for “swift international action to prevent the invasion of Rafah and the commission of the crime of genocide.”
