The United States has observed recent troop movements by Israel near the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, indicating Israel could be preparing to expand its military operations in the densely populated Palestinian city soon, NBC News has reported, citing US sources.
According to two US officials cited by NBC News, the Israeli military has amassed enough personnel on the outskirts of Rafah to suggest it may be ready to push into other areas of the city. However, the officials stated it remains unclear whether Israel has made a final decision on the timing and scope of any further offensive action.
"The US has seen recent troop movement that indicates Israel could expand operations in Rafah soon, but has not made a formal assessment about whether a full-scale invasion is imminent," NBC News reported, citing the two unnamed US officials.
The Biden administration has repeatedly warned Israel against launching a full-scale military operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians reside, due to humanitarian concerns over civilian casualties.
One US official told NBC News that the Israeli troop buildup near Rafah began days ago, but the United States does not know whether a larger incursion into the city itself would occur in days or weeks.
Israeli tanks forged deeper into eastern Rafah on Tuesday, reaching some residential districts of the southern border city. Israel's international allies and aid groups have repeatedly urged against a ground incursion into refugee-packed Rafah.
The World Court, also known as the International Court of Justice, said it would hold hearings on Thursday and Friday to discuss a request by South Africa seeking new emergency measures over the Rafah incursion, which Qatar says has stalled efforts to reach a ceasefire.
South Africa's demand is part of a case it brought against Israel accusing it of violating the genocide convention in Gaza, which Israel has called baseless. It would provide its views on the latest petition on Friday, the UN court said.
Israel has vowed to press on into Rafah even without the support of allies, saying its operation is necessary to root out four remaining Hamas battalions holed up in the city. "The tanks advanced this morning west of Saladin Road into the Brzail and Jneina neighborhoods. They are in the streets inside the built-up area and there are clashes," one resident told Reuters via a chat app.
Video on social media showed one tank on George Street in the Al-Jneina neighborhood. Reuters could not verify the video. In a round-up of its activities, the IDF said its forces had eliminated "several armed terrorist" cells in close-quarter fighting on the Gazan side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. In the east of the city, it said it had also destroyed terrorist cells and a launch post from where missiles were being fired at IDF troops.
Israel issued evacuation orders for people to move from parts of eastern Rafah a week ago, with a second round of orders extending to further zones on Saturday. UNRWA, the main United Nations aid agency in Gaza, estimates some 450,000 people have fled Rafah since May 6.
Gun battles between Israeli forces and Palestinian terrorists were the fiercest in months, according to residents, both in the north and south of the densely populated enclave of 2.3 million people.
In the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City in the north, bulldozers demolished clusters of houses to make a new road for tanks to roll through into the eastern suburb. In northern Gaza's Jabalia, a sprawling refugee camp built for displaced Palestinians 75 years ago, residents said Israeli forces were trying to reach as deep as the camp's local market under heavy tank shelling.
The IDF said it had killed dozens of Hamas fighters in Jabalia and dismantled a network of explosives, while in Zeitoun it located tunnel shafts and destroyed several rocket launchers. With fighting intensifying, Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said ceasefire talks, mediated by his country and Egypt, were at a stalemate.
"There is one party that wants to end the war and then talk about the hostages and there is another party who wants the hostages and wants to continue the war. As long as there is not any commonality between those two things it won't get us to a result," Sheikh Mohammed said.
