Around 110,000
Palestinians
have evacuated Rafah in southern Gaza as the region is facing severe shortages of food and fuel, according to a UN official.
Israeli forces are engaged in combat with
Palestinian fighters
in Rafah, a city in the southern part of Gaza. The clashes were triggered by a rocket attack and an
Israeli military operation
that took place earlier in the week, resulting in the closure of vital crossings essential for the delivery of humanitarian assistance.
Simultaneously, fighting is also occurring in the Zeitoun region, situated on the periphery of Gaza City in the northern section of the territory. The northern part of Gaza was the initial focus of the ground offensive, and Israel declared near the end of the previous year that it had largely dismantled Hamas's presence in that area.
According to a statement issued by the military on Friday, several tunnels were discovered in the eastern part of Rafah, close to the Egyptian border. The statement also mentioned that militants were neutralized "during close-quarters combat and with an aerial strike."
Georgios Petropoulos, an official for the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs working in Rafah, stated that all entry points into southern Gaza are currently blocked, disrupting supplies, preventing medical evacuations, and hindering the movement of humanitarian personnel.
Around 1.3 million Palestinians, constituting more than half of Gaza's population, had sought shelter in Rafah.
Petropoulos warned that the World Food Program's food supplies for distribution in southern Gaza will be depleted by Saturday if additional aid does not arrive.
UN officials caution that the fuel shortage is adversely affecting medical facilities, water supplies, and sewage systems throughout Gaza.
"A US threat to withhold some weapons would not deter Israel from expanding its offensive in Gaza," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday. Earlier this week, a limited Israeli operation seized control of the Gaza side of Rafah's border crossing with Egypt, plunging humanitarian efforts into crisis.
According to local health officials, the death toll from the war in Gaza has surged to over 34,500 people and has resulted in extensive damage to apartments, hospitals, mosques, and schools across multiple cities. The UN reports that northern Gaza is already experiencing a "full-blown famine."
(With AP inputs)
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