Israel/Palestine: Hamas Fires Rockets At Israeli Cities

Hamas’s military wing on Monday said it has fired a “barrage of rockets” at Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in Israel with sirens sending lawmakers to bomb shelters.

Hamas, the Palestine’s militant group, had over one week ago launched attack on Israel with a barrage of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.

The attack, which culminated into a war with Israel’s retaliations, resulted into the killing of at least 4,100 people at the moment.

An estimated one million people have been displaced within Gaza, the United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees has said.

Israel’s military has updated the number of people it believes are being held hostage in Gaza – up from 155 to 199.

They were kidnapped when Hamas gunmen infiltrated Israel just over a week ago, killing more than 1,400 people.

More than 2,700 people in Gaza have been killed in retaliatory strikes by Israel, which is also blocking fuel, water, food and medical supplies from entering the territory.

The United Nations (UN) aid chief, Martin Griffiths, said Gaza’s health system and hospitals were “collapsing before our eyes” without water, fuel and medical supplies.

He said the UN was in “deep discussions” to secure the passage of much-needed aid into the territory, which Israel has blockaded.

But the crucial Rafah crossing from Egypt into Gaza has been hit by an air strike – the extent of the damage is unclear.

Thousands of people have been gathering close to the crossing with Egypt in the hope of leaving Gaza.

Meanwhile, Egypt said Israel was not cooperating with delivery of aid into Gaza and evacuations of foreign passport holders via the only entry it does not wholly control, leaving hundreds of tonnes of supplies stuck.

The African country also said the Rafah crossing, a potentially vital opening for desperately-needed supplies into the Israeli-besieged Palestinian enclave, is not officially closed but is inoperable due to Israeli air strikes on the Gaza side.

“There is an urgent need to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told reporters, adding that talks with Israel had not been fruitful.

“Until now the Israeli government has not taken a position on opening the Rafah crossing from the Gaza side to allow the entrance of assistance and exit of citizens of third countries.”

This was just as Israel denied reports of any temporary Gaza ceasefire to allow foreign nationals to flee the enclave to neighbouring Egypt.

However, the Army pledged to refrain from striking routes within Gaza designated for evacuating people from the enclave’s north to the south during a limited time window, from 8:00am to noon (0500 GMT to 0900 GMT).

Reports had said Israel, Egypt and the United States had agreed the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt would be opened for several hours Monday in a one-off move to allow foreign nationals to flee and aid goods to enter.

But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that “there is currently no ceasefire and humanitarian aid in Gaza in return for removing foreigners”.

“There is no ceasefire and we are continuing with our operational activity,” Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari told journalists.

Media reports had said Israel, Egypt and the United States had agreed the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt would be opened for several hours Monday in a one-off move to allow foreign nationals to flee and aid goods to enter.

But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that “there is currently no ceasefire and humanitarian aid in Gaza in return for removing foreigners”.

“There is no ceasefire and we are continuing with our operational activity,” military spokesman Daniel Hagari told journalists.

Izzat al-Rishq, chief of Hamas’s media office, also said there was “no truth” to the media reports.

The Israeli military said earlier Monday it would refrain from striking two roads in the Gaza Strip marked for residents to move south and out of the way of a possible ground offensive.

“The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) will refrain from targeting the designated axis from 8:00 am until 12:00 pm,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X, formerly Twitter.

“For your safety take advantage of this short period of time to move south from the north of the strip and Gaza City.”