Israel battled Hamas in Gaza on Monday, including in
far-southern Rafah, despite US warnings against a full-scale invasion of the
crowded city and of the threat from post-war anarchy or insurgency.
Clashes also raged in northern and central Gaza as Israel
marked a sombre Memorial Day, followed by Independence Day from Monday night,
more than seven months into the war sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack on
Israel. Israelis marked a moment's silence and Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu vowed that "our war of independence is not over yet. It
continues even today... We are determined to win this struggle." AFP
correspondents in Gaza reported helicopter strikes and heavy artillery shelling
in the east of Rafah, as well as battles in northern Gaza's Jabalia refugee
camp and Gaza City's Zeitun neighbourhood. Israel last week defied a chorus of
warnings -- including from top ally Washington which paused a shipment of bombs
-- and sent tanks and troops into the east of Rafah to pursue militants. The
city on the Egyptian border had been sheltering 1.4 million Palestinians, according
to the United Nations, but Israel's military operation sparked an exodus of
nearly 360,000 people from Rafah so far, said the UN agency for Palestinian
refugees (UNRWA).
Warning of Hamas resurgence
The agency warned that "no place is safe" in the
territory, much of which has been reduced to a grey landscape of rubble. US
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that Washington had not seen any
credible Israeli plan to protect civilians in Rafah, and that "we also haven't
seen a plan for what happens the day after this war in Gaza ends". "Israel's
on the trajectory, potentially, to inherit an insurgency with many armed Hamas
left or, if it leaves, a vacuum filled by chaos, filled by anarchy and probably
refilled by Hamas," he told NBC. Fighting has raged in northern Gaza where
-- months after Israel declared Hamas's command structure had been dismantled
-- an Israeli army spokesman said there were "attempts by Hamas to rebuild
its military capabilities".
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said late on Monday that since the evacuation
orders were issued on Saturday for northern Gaza, around 100,000 people have
been displaced from there. "The army threw leaflets and sent a message on
mobile phones warning everyone to leave Jabalia" refugee camp, said one
displaced Palestinian, Umm Adi Nassar, after arriving in nearby Gaza City.
