JEDDAH: Israeli troops pushed further into Rafah in southern Gaza on Friday as its tanks split the city in two and encircled the eastern half.
The Israeli forces faced fierce resistance from Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters, and battles also resumed in northern Gaza, where Hamas has regrouped after being forced out earlier in the war. Four Israeli soldiers were killed in fighting there.
Israel’s move into Rafah has been short of the full-scale invasion that it threatened. The US and other Israeli allies are deeply opposed to a major offensive, and Washington has threatened to hold back arms to shipments to Israel.
But the heavy fighting has shaken the city and spread fear that a bigger assault is coming.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said more than 110,000 people had fled Rafah, and families who had already moved numerous times during the war were doing so again.
“The full invasion hasn’t started and things have already gotten below zero,” said Raed Al-Fayomi, a refugee in Rafah. “There’s no food or water.”
Those fleeing erected new tent camps in Khan Younis, which was half destroyed in an earlier Israeli offensive, and the town of Deir Al-Balah.
The charity Project Hope said there had been a surge in people from Rafah seeking care for blast injuries, infections and pregnancies in its clinic in Deir Al-Balah.
“People are evacuating to nothing. There are no homes or proper shelters for people to go to,” said the group’s Gaza team leader in Rafah, Moses Kondowe.
UN aid official Georgios Petropoulos said humanitarian workers had no supplies to set up in new locations.
“We simply have no tents, we have no blankets, no bedding, none of the items that you would expect a population on the move to be able to get from the humanitarian system,” he said.
The fighting in Rafah has left crucial nearby aid crossings inaccessible, and food and other supplies were running critically low, aid agencies said.
The World Food Program will run out of food for distribution in southern Gaza by Saturday, Petropoulos said.
Aid groups have said fuel will also be depleted soon, forcing hospitals to shut down critical operations and bringing to a halt trucks delivering aid across south and central Gaza.
