Israeli forces reinforced, this Monday, May 13, their offensive in the Jabalia refugee camp, in the north of the Gaza Strip, according to residents and Hamas media, while carrying out operations on the outskirts of Rafah, in the south of the Palestinian enclave.
In Jabalia, Israeli tanks attempted to advance towards the center of the refugee camp, the largest in the Gaza Strip. According to residents, tank shells hit the center of the camp and airstrikes destroyed several houses.
Several people were killed and injured in a series of airstrikes on the camp overnight, residents and doctors said. In Rafah, near the border with Egypt, Israel intensified its aerial and ground bombardment of areas east of the city.
According to residents, Israeli tanks cut off the Salah ad-Din road, the main north-south axis of traffic in the Gaza Strip which crosses the eastern part of Rafah. Intense fighting was reported and Israeli forces and tanks were seen in the southeastern area of Rafah, residents reported.
The armed wing of the Islamist movement Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, said its fighters were engaged in exchanges of fire with Israeli forces in one of the streets east of Rafah as well as in the east of Jabalia. In Israel, the army repeatedly sounded sirens in areas near the Gaza Strip, warning of possible cross-border fire from Palestinian rockets and mortars.
The death toll from the Israeli military operation in the Palestinian enclave now stands at at least 35,000 dead, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Israel is celebrating this Monday a day of commemoration for martyrs and victims of conflicts, which will be dedicated this year to the 1,200 Israelis who died during the October 7 attack perpetrated by Hamas in southern Israel as well as to the hundreds of soldiers Israelis have died since the start of the offensive in the Gaza Strip.