Israel Hamas war: Heavy gunfire rocks Gaza as battle rages on

Heavy clashes and gunfire have rocked Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, as the Israeli military killed a top Palestinian militant leader and aid moved through the besieged territory.

Heavy clashes and bombardment rocked Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, as the Israeli military announced the first 310 pallets of humanitarian aid had entered the besieged territory via a US-built pier.

More than 10 days into what the Israeli military called a “limited” operation in Rafah, fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants has also flared again in Gaza’s north.

The Kuwaiti hospital said an overnight Israeli strike killed two people in a displacement camp in Rafah, with witnesses reporting heavy gunfire and shelling in the city’s southeast and jets bombarding its eastern areas.

Smoke rise after an Israeli bombardment as seen from a position from the Israeli side of the border in Southern Israel. Picture: AFP

AFP correspondents, witnesses and medics said there were intense battles overnight in the northern Jabalia refugee camp, after the Israeli army reported on Friday “perhaps the fiercest” violence in the town in more than seven months of war.

Israel in early January said it had dismantled Hamas’s command structure in northern Gaza, but the army said the Palestinian group “was in complete control here in Jabalia until we arrived a few days ago”.

U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary), U.S. Navy Sailors assigned to Amphibious Construction Battalion 1, and Israel Defense Forces emplace the Trident Pier, May 16, 2024 on the Gaza coast. Picture: Getty

The Israeli incursion into Rafah, launched despite overwhelming international opposition and as mediators were hoping for a breakthrough in stalled truce talks, has worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis, aid groups say.

With key land crossings closed or operating at limited capacity due to the fighting, some relief supplies began flowing into war-ravaged Gaza via a temporary, floating pier constructed by the US.

The 310 pallets began moving ashore in “the first entry of humanitarian aid through the floating pier”, the Israeli army said in a statement.

In the coming days, around 500 tonnes of aid are expected to be delivered to Gaza through the pier, according to US Central Command.

But UN agencies and humanitarian aid groups have warned that the so-called maritime corridor, and ongoing airdrops from planes, cannot replace far more efficient truck convoys into Gaza, where the United Nations has repeatedly warned of looming famine.

Follow the updates below:

ISRAEL KILLS TOP PALESTINIAN MILITANT

The Israeli military said on Saturday it killed a senior Palestinian militant during an air strike on an “operations centre” in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

“A number of significant terrorists were inside the compound,” the Israeli Defense Forces said in a statement posted to Telegram.

It said the strike by a fighter jet and helicopter killed Islam Khamayseh, a “senior terrorist operative in the Jenin Camp” who was responsible for a series of attacks in the area.

Mourners and armed militants carry the body of Islam Khamayseh, a local commander of Al-Quds Brigade, the armed wing of militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad, killed in an overnight Israeli strike on the occupied West Bank Jenin refugee camp, during his funeral. Picture: AFP

The Al-Quds Brigade, the armed wing of militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad, confirmed in a statement that Khamayseh was killed and several others wounded during an Israeli raid on Friday night.

It said Khamayseh was a leader of the Jenin Battalion, which is affiliated with Islamic Jihad.

Israeli soldiers during military operations in the Gaza Strip. Picture: AFP

BIDEN’S ADVISOR TO GO TO SECURITY TALKS

US President Joe Biden’s national security advisor Jake Sullivan will travel to Saudi Arabia and Israel at the weekend for talks on the conflict in Gaza, the White House confirmed.

Sullivan will meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Saturday and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

Israeli soldiers during military operations in the Gaza Strip. Picture: AFP

WAR CONTINUES

The Gaza Strip has been at war since Hamas’s unprecedented attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip has killed at least 35,303 people, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

Originally published as Israel Hamas war: Heavy gunfire rocks Gaza as battle rages on