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Israeli forces continue to press into Rafah over the past 24 hours, destroying “weapons storage facilities, as well as tunnel shafts,” the Israeli army said in a statement on Friday. Hamas has released a steady stream of updates on its Telegram channel claiming that its armed wing was targeting Israeli troops with mortars and explosive devices in Rafah. Israel said on Thursday it was fighting deeper into the city in what it believes is a limited operation against Hamas battalions.
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Some of the aid arrived in Gaza through the temporary dock built in the United States was distributed after days of delay, a spokesperson for the World Food Program said said Thursday. On Tuesday, the Pentagon said none of the aid delivered through the dock had reached the hands of Palestinians suffering from extreme hunger. Three days earlier, the World Food Program had stopped distributing aid after hungry mobs looted several of its trucks.
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Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen warned Israel on Thursday against severing ties between Palestinian and Israeli banks, arguing that such a move would further destabilize the West Bank economy when Palestinians are already facing dire economic conditions. Yellen and other top economic officials from Group of 7 nations are expected to discuss the issue and the humanitarian situation in Gaza at a summit in Stresa, Italy, in the coming days.
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Israel has suffered several diplomatic blows in the last week, some of which have been feared for years. Yet the growing outcry against Israel abroad does not appear to have influenced the Israeli public, whose views of the country's military campaign in Gaza differ widely from those of the rest of the world.