Iran Press/ West Asia: Heavy fighting is underway in Gaza’s southern Rafah as Hamas fighters fire rockets and mortars and detonate explosive devices with Israeli troops and tanks pushing deeper into the city, Aljazeera reported.
Since Israel began advancing troops towards the east of Rafah and intensifying attacks on the city on Monday, some 110,000 Palestinians have fled, according to the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).
It added that wherever they go, they face the continued threat of Israeli attacks, which have pummeled Gaza from north to south for seven months.
“Nowhere is safe in the Gaza Strip and living conditions are atrocious,” said UNRWA, calling again for an “immediate ceasefire”.
The attack on Rafah began a few hours after Hams announced its agreement with the Qatari-Egyptian draft ceasefire, but the Israeli regime claimed that the ceasefire didn’t fulfill the regime's expectations.
The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned about the Israeli all-out attack on Rafah and called on the engaging sides to reach a ceasefire to stop a catastrophe in Rafah.
Still, the UN relief chief Martin Griffiths expressed concern on Tuesday over the Israeli regime’s military actions in the southern Gaza city of Rafah and said: "The conflict in Gaza is at another critical juncture. Israel's latest evacuation orders and their ground operations will bring more death and displacement."
Amnesty International called on the international community to put pressure on the Israeli regime to immediately stop its ground operations in Rafah; The international body also asked for guaranteeing unrestricted access to humanitarian aid in Gaza.
About 1.5 million people have been crammed into tent cities and makeshift shelters and are suffering from shortages of food, water, medicine, and other essentials. 219
