Israeli forces push back into northern Gaza amid military pressure on Rafah

on Saturday, the Israeli military said forces operating in Jabalia are preventing Hamas, which rules Gaza, from re-establishing its military capabilities there.

“We identified in the past weeks attempts by Hamas to rehabilitate its military capabilities in Jabalia. We are operating there to eliminate those attempts,” Israeli military’s spokesperson Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters.

Hagari also said that Israeli forces operating in Gaza City’s al-Zeitoun district killed about 30 Palestinian militants.

Israeli forces thrust deep into Jabalia camp, deeper than the first time when they invaded northern Gaza, with tanks close to the local market, residents said. They also reported the fiercest gun battles in months there.

“They were bombing everywhere, including near schools that are housing people who lost their houses,” Jabalia resident Saed, 45, told Reuters via a chat app. “War is restarting, this is how it looks in Jabalia.”

The army sent tanks back into al-Zeitoun, an eastern suburb of Gaza City, as well as al-Sabra, where residents also reported heavy bombardments that destroyed several houses, including high-rise residential buildings.

The army had claimed to have gained control of most of these areas months ago.

On Sunday, more families, estimated in the thousands, were leaving Rafah as the Israeli military pressure intensified. Tank shells landed across the city as the army gave new evacuation orders covering some neighbourhoods in the centre of the city, which borders Egypt.

Israel’s military said on Sunday it had opened a new crossing in northern Gaza, called “Western Erez”, to transfer humanitarian aid to the strip.