The war between Israel and Hamas: Sirens sound in Tel Aviv for the first time in months

Deir al-Balah (Gaza Strip) – Hamas fired a barrage of rockets from the Gaza Strip Gaza Sirens sounded as far away as Tel Aviv for the first time in months on Sunday in a show of resilience more than seven months after 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. The military wing of Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. Palestinian militants sporadically fired rockets and mortar shells at towns along the Gaza border, and the military arm of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement announced later Sunday that it had fired rockets at nearby towns.

The Israeli army said that eight shells crossed into Israel after being fired from the southern Gaza City area RafahWhere Israeli forces launched a recent incursion. It said that “a number” of missiles had been intercepted, and army spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said that the launch pad in Rafah had been destroyed.

Earlier Sunday, aid trucks entered Gaza from southern Israel under a new agreement to bypass the Rafah crossing with Egypt after Israeli forces took control of the Palestinian side of it earlier this month. But it was not immediately clear whether humanitarian organizations could obtain aid due to the fighting.

Egypt refuses to reopen its side of the Rafah crossing until control of the Gaza side is handed over to the Palestinians. It agreed to temporarily divert traffic through the Israeli Kerem Shalom crossing, the main shipping station in Gaza, after a phone call between US President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

But the Kerem Shalom crossing is now largely inaccessible due to the Israeli attack on Rafah. Israel says it has allowed hundreds of trucks to enter, but UN agencies say retrieving aid is usually too dangerous.

The war between Israel and Hamas led to the death of nearly 36,000 Palestinians, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its statistics. The Ministry of Health said that the bodies of 81 people killed in the Israeli raids were transferred to hospitals during the past 24 hours.

About 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes, extreme hunger is widespread, and UN officials say parts of the Strip They suffer from starvation.

Hamas ignited the war with it October 7 attack on IsraelIn which Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostage. Hamas is still holding about 100 hostages and the remains of about 30 others after most of the rest were released during last year’s ceasefire.

Southern Gaza is largely cut off from aid

The state-owned Cairo TV channel broadcast footage of what it said were trucks entering Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing. Khaled Zayed, head of the Egyptian Red Crescent in the Sinai Peninsula, which is responsible for delivering aid from the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, said that 200 aid trucks and four fuel trucks are scheduled to be sent to the Kerem Shalom crossing on Sunday.

Aid has been largely cut off from southern Gaza since Israel launched what it described as a limited incursion into Rafah on May 6. Since then, more than a million Palestinians have fled the city. Most of them had been displaced from other parts of besieged Gaza.

Northern Gaza continues to receive aid via two land routes that Israel opened during the subsequent global outrage The Israeli raids resulted in the deaths of seven aid workers in April.

A few dozen trucks enter Gaza daily via a floating dock built by the United States, but its capacity is still far less than the 150 trucks per day that officials had hoped for. Aid groups say 600 trucks a day are needed.

Netanyahu resists pressure to end the war

Netanyahu said Israel must take control of Rafah to eliminate remaining Hamas brigades and achieve “complete victory” over militants who have recently regrouped in other parts of Gaza where the army operates.

Netanyahu is facing increasing pressure to reach an agreement with Hamas to release the remaining hostages, which Hamas has rejected without guarantees. An end to the war And the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces. Netanyahu has ruled this out.

Clashes broke out between police and protesters in Tel Aviv on Saturday after thousands gathered again to demand the return of hostages. They called for Netanyahu’s resignation and demanded new elections.

The war also leaves Israel increasingly isolated on the world stage.

Three European countries announced last week They will recognize the Palestinian stateAnd the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court I requested arrest warrants To Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant, and three Hamas leaders.

Friday, international justice Court Israel was ordered to stop its military offensive in Rafah. The UN Supreme Court also said that Israel must allow war crimes investigators into Gaza.

Israel is unlikely to comply, and has condemned the ICC’s move to issue arrest warrants. Israel says it does its best to avoid harming civilians and blames their deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in densely populated residential areas.

Israel denies the captured soldier’s report

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) announced it had captured an Israeli soldier during fighting in northern Gaza, and released a video late Saturday showing an injured man being dragged through a tunnel. The Israeli army denied capturing any soldiers, and Hamas did not provide any other evidence to support its claims.

In a separate development, the Israeli army said it arrested a suspect over a widely circulated video clip, which shows a man dressed as a soldier threatening rebellion. In the video, the man says that tens of thousands of soldiers were ready to disobey the Defense Minister over his proposal that the Palestinians rule Gaza after the war and pledged loyalty to Netanyahu alone.

Military spokesman Hajjari said the man had been removed from reserve duty. The man has not been publicly identified. It is not clear when or where the video was filmed. Yair Netanyahu, the prime minister’s son, posted the video on social media, sparking criticism from political opponents. The Prime Minister’s Office issued a brief statement condemning all forms of military subordination.

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Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Magdy reported from Cairo.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war on https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war