Israel has called on residents from more areas of Rafah in the Gaza Strip to evacuate and head to the “expanded humanitarian area”.
Despite heavy US pressure, Israel has said it will proceed with an assault on the southern city, where more than one million people have taken refuge – around half of them children – and Israeli forces say Hamas militants are dug in.
Tensions over the offensive have seen Washington halt delivery of some military aid to its ally.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to proceed with the offensive with or without US arms, saying “we will fight with our fingernails” if needed in a defiant statement late on Thursday.
Israel says Rafah is the last Hamas stronghold in Gaza and key to its goal of dismantling the group’s capabilities and returning scores of hostages captured in Hamas’s 7 October attack that triggered the war.
However, Hamas has repeatedly regrouped, even in the hardest-hit parts of Gaza.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
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Source : Sky News
