Israeli forces intensify attacks on Jabalia camp and Rafah in Gaza

Israeli tanks, under cover of heavy fire from air and ground, pushed further into Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, residents and Hamas media said, while tanks and troops crossed a key highway on the outskirts of Rafah in the south.

In Jabalia, tanks were trying to advance towards the heart of the camp, the biggest of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps. Residents said tank shells were landing at the center of the camp and that air strikes had destroyed clusters of houses.

Residents and medics said several people were killed and wounded in a series of air strikes on the camp overnight. Medics said they have been unable to send teams to some of the bombed areas because of the intensity of the Israeli bombardment but they have reports of fatalities.

In Rafah, near the border with Egypt, Israel stepped up aerial and ground bombardments on the eastern areas of the city, killing people in an air strike on a house in the Brazil neighborhood.

Residents said Israeli tanks have cut off the Salahuddin Road that bisects the eastern part of the city, while the eastern part of Rafah remained a "ghost town".

Intense fighting was reported and Israeli forces and tanks were seen in the southeast area of Rafah, residents said.

Jack Lew, the US ambassador to Israel, signaled on Sunday that the Rafah incursion was still on a scale acceptable to Washington.

This comes after a night of heavy aerial and ground bombardments, killing and wounding dozens, the Hamas-run health ministry said.

Lew referred to a disclosure by US President Joe Biden to CNN last week that a bomb shipment to Israel was on hold as a warning not to "go into Rafah".

"The president was clear in the interview he gave the other evening that what Israel has done so far hasn't crossed over into the area where our disagreements lie," Lew told Israel's Channel 12 TV, without elaborating on what that area entails.

"I'm hoping we don't end up with real disagreement."

Reuters