IDF presses offensive in Rafah as EU countries recognize Palestine

Several Israel Defense Forces tanks have reached the center of Rafah, witnesses tell Reuters. The tanks were reportedly spotted near Al-Awda mosque, a central landmark in Rafah.

The IDF stated that its troops continued to operate in the Rafah area. Overnight, IDF troops operated on the Philadelphi Corridor, conducting precise operational activities based on intelligence indicating the presence of militants' targets in the area, according to an IDF statement.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli forces on the witness accounts, with the military saying it will issue a statement on the Rafah operation later.

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Overnight, Israeli forces pounded the city with airstrikes and tank fire, residents told Reuters, pressing their offensive despite an international outcry over a deadly attack on Sunday.

A strike on Sunday hit a tent camp in a western part of Rafah, causing a large fire and killing at least 45 people, according to Hamas health officials. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged a "tragic mistake" had occurred.

The IDF announced yesterday that the strike, which targeted two senior Hamas officials, will be investigated by the top-tier General Staff Fact-Finding Assessment Mechanism.

Since that strike, at least 26 more people have been killed by Israeli fire in Rafah, officials in the enclave run by Hamas militants said.

The IDF says troops located tunnels, and weapons, and killed numerous operatives in the Rafah area.

Israel has continued its attacks despite a ruling by the top U.N. court on Friday ordering it to stop, arguing that the court's ruling grants it some scope for military action there. Israel says it needs to invade Rafah to destroy Hamas militants' last stronghold.

Evacuation from Rafah

Around one million Palestinians have fled the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip in the past three weeks, according to UNRWA, after Israel began issuing evacuation orders early this month.

"This happened with nowhere safe to go & amidst bombardments, lack of food & water, piles of waste & unsuitable living conditions," the UN agency for Palestinians claimed in a post on X.

The IDF has called on residents to move to an expanded humanitarian zone in the al-Mawasi and Khan Younis areas of southern Gaza, estimating last week that some 950,000 Palestinians had evacuated from Rafah.

From the exodus the assault has caused, satellite photos taken last week show dense new tent camps running the length of the coast from just north of Rafah to outside Deir al-Balah. The ramshackle tents and shelters are densely packed in mazes of corrugated metal and plastic sheets, with blankets and bedsheets draped over wooden sticks for privacy.

Israeli authorities, who are now controlling all entry points into Gaza, have been allowing greater numbers of private commercial trucks into the territory, the U.N. and aid workers say. More fruits and vegetables are found in markets now, and prices on some have fallen, Palestinians say.

International reaction

The UN Security Council was set to convene an emergency meeting Tuesday over the deadly Israeli strike on a displaced persons camp in Rafah.

Spain has formally recognized a Palestinian state, in a decision approved by its cabinet in parallel with similar moves by Ireland and Norway.

Norway's recognition has also officially gone into effect, with the country's foreign minister Espen Barth Eide hailing the move as "a special day for Norway-Palestine relations." Ireland has followed suit as well.

Israel's foreign minister accused Spain of "being complicit in inciting genocide against Jews and war crimes" on Tuesday.

"Khamenei, Sinwar, and deputy PM Yolanda Diaz call for the elimination of Israel and for the establishment of an Islamic Palestinian terror state from the river to the sea," wrote Katz on X.

Diaz ended a speech last week with the slogan "from the river to the sea Palestine will be free," and has said since it was an endorsement of the two-state solution.

"Sanchez, when you don't fire your deputy and declare recognition of a Palestinian state — you are a partner to incitement to the genocide of Jews and to war crimes," Katz writes.

British Foreign Minister David Cameron says an investigation by the Israel Defense Forces into this week's deadly airstrikes on Rafah must be "swift, comprehensive and transparent," again calling for a pause in fighting.

"Deeply distressing scenes following the airstrikes in Rafah this weekend. The IDF's investigation must be swift, comprehensive and transparent," Cameron wrote on X.

"We urgently need a deal to get hostages out and aid in, with a pause in fighting to allow work towards a long-term sustainable ceasefire."

Death toll growing

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says that at least 36,096 people have been killed during more than seven months of war between Israel and Hamas. Only some 24,000 fatalities have been identified at hospitals.

The toll includes at least 46 deaths over the past 24 hours, according to a ministry statement, adding that 81,136 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began with Hamas's October 7 massacre in southern Israel.

The toll, which cannot be verified, includes some 15,000 Hamas operatives Israel says it has killed in battle. Israel also says it killed some 1,000 militants inside Israel on October 7.

A total of 288 soldiers have been killed during the ground offensive against Hamas and amid operations along the Gaza border. A civilian Defense Ministry contractor has also been killed in the Strip.

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