Beijing, May 11 (Xinhua) -- A number of United Nations officials revealed on May 10 that Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) recently exchanged fierce fire in the suburbs of Rafah, a city in the southern Palestinian Gaza Strip. On the same day, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the Gaza Strip was at risk of a "massive humanitarian catastrophe" as Israeli forces advanced military operations in Rafah.
The latest round of ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas broke down on the 9th, and the Israeli side said on the same day that it would attack Rafah as planned. Rafah is the last remaining major city in the Gaza Strip that has not yet been subjected to a major offensive by Israeli ground forces, and more than a million Palestinian refugees have fled to the Gaza Strip from the north and centre. The Israeli army views Rafah as Hamas's last stronghold in the Gaza Strip and sees the capture of the city as essential to eliminate Hamas's viability and release those detained by Palestinian armed groups.
The Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt is an important gateway for international humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. According to the Israeli army's report, the Israeli ground forces launched an operation on the night of the 6th and took control of the Gaza Strip side of the Rafah port. During the latest round of ceasefire talks, Israeli forces continued to carry out targeted strikes in eastern Rafah, killing hundreds of specific targets and killing dozens of Palestinian militants. According to the Israeli army, the Israeli army's military operations in eastern Rafah will continue.
The Associated Press, citing Hamas, reported that the militant group carried out strikes in Rafah against a house occupied by Israeli forces, Israeli transport vehicles and soldiers fighting on foot.
An Associated Press reporter in the city of Rafah said that the night of Rafah from the 9th to the 10th was full of artillery fire and gunfire. In addition, a number of AFP reporters witnessed Israeli troops firing artillery shells at Rafah on the 10th.
Recently, Israel's ally, the United States, under pressure from public opinion at home and abroad, threatened to postpone the delivery of a batch of heavy bombs to Israel, and warned the Israeli army not to attack Rafah. However, in the face of the Israeli army's current military operation in Rafah, John Kirby, coordinator of strategic communications at the White House National Security Council, determined at a media briefing on the 10th that the Israeli army's actions against Rafah in the past 24 hours were not a "widespread, large-scale ground offensive." Israeli operations were mainly concentrated in a local area near the Rafah crossing, and the Israeli troops involved in the operation were "stationed there from the beginning".
In addition to Rafah, Israeli forces and Hamas exchanged heavy fire this week in the area around Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip. Four Israeli soldiers were killed by an "explosive device" near a school in Gaza City on the 10th.
The northern part of the Gaza Strip has borne the brunt of the current round of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and despite the fact that the Israeli army claimed to have eliminated most of the Hamas militants in the area late last year, the Hamas forces continue to regroup in the area.
George Petropoulos, an official of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Rafah, warned that the World Food Programme's donations of food for the southern part of the Gaza Strip will run out on the 11th. Several aid organizations have said that the fuel shortage in the Gaza Strip is jeopardizing hospital operations.
According to the Office for the Coordination of Government Activities in Israeli Territory, Israel has sent 200,000 liters of fuel to the Gaza Strip on the 10th. But according to the United Nations, that figure is a drop in the bucket for the Gaza Strip.
Raid Fayomi, a displaced refugee in the city of Rafah, said that although the Israeli army has not yet launched a full-scale attack on Rafah, life here is "a mess" and "there is no food or drinking water". (Wang Yijun)