Illustrative image (The Israeli Defense Forces)
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) on May 31 withdrew from parts of the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, expanded operations in the Rafah area in the southern part of the Palestinian enclave and admitted losing two more soldiers during clashes with the Hamas Movement and other armed factions there.
A partial Israeli withdrawal from Jabalia was first reported by Palestinian media and Turkey’s official Anadolu Agency. The IDF later officially confirmed that its 98th Division had wrapped up a nearly three-week-long operation in Jabalia, which left most of the camp in ruins.
A local emergency committee in northern Gaza urged people not to return to their homes and areas in the camp under the current situation. It added that the Israeli army’s drones were targeting people returning to the camp in addition to the hazard remnants left by the Israeli forces.
Separately, the IDF announced for the first time that it was operating in the center of Rafah and called the offensive against Hamas there “precise” and “intelligence-based.” The expansion of ground operation in the heavily-populated area came after Israeli troops imposed full control over the so-called Philadelphi Corridor in southern Rafah along the border with Egypt earlier in the week.
In the eastern part of the city of Rafah and along the Philadelphi Corridor, the IDF said that forces under the command of the 162nd Division located long-range rockets and additional weapons and military equipment.
Also during the day, the IDF announced that two soldiers from the Bislamach Brigade’s 6828th Battalion and the Givati Brigade’s reconnaissance unit were killed in Gaza.
The Bislamach soldier was killed in northern Gaza during a battle with Palestinian fighters, while the Givati soldier was killed, and another officer from the same unit was seriously wounded, as a result of an anti-tank missile fired at them in the southern part of the Strip.
Their deaths raised the toll from Israel’s ground operations in Gaza and along its border to 294. More than 1,600 others have been reportedly wounded, so far.
A day earlier, Hamas’ military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and that of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the al-Quds Brigade, released videos showing attacks on Israeli troops in northern, central and southern Gaza, with one of the attacks carried out using an armed drone.
It’s worth noting that the Palestinian death toll in Gaza surged to 36,242 by May 30 with more than 81,777 people wounded, according to the health ministry in the Strip.
Despite killing tens of thousands of Palestinians and destructing much of Gaza, Israel is yet to achieve any of the key goals it set for the war.
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