US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said today that the administration of President Joe Biden does not examines the killing of Palestinians in Gaza by Israel in its war with "Hamas" as genocide, reported Reuters.
Sullivan, speaking to reporters at the White House, said Washington wants to see the movement "Hamas" crushed. He added that the Palestinians trapped in the war are in a "hell" and that a major Israeli military operation in Rafah would be a mistake.
Israeli forces entered yesterday deep into the rubble-ridden northern part of the Gaza Strip to recapture from the fighters of "Hamas" one of the areas in this sector of the Palestinian enclave. In the south, tanks and troops entered Rafah on the highway to the city, while against this background, Palestinian civilians are trying to find safety, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
Both in the north and in the south, the fiercest fighting in weeks is currently taking place. Israeli operations in Rafah, which borders Egypt, have closed the main transit point for aid, which humanitarian groups say is worsening the already dire situation in the enclave.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee again after about half of Gaza's population took refuge in Rafah as it was pushed south by fighting in other areas.
Gaza health authorities have called for international pressure to reopen access to the southern border to allow access for aid, medical supplies and fuel for generators and ambulances.
"The wounded and sick are dying slowly because they cannot travel and do not have access to treatment and supplies," health officials say.
A foreign UN official was killed today while traveling to a hospital in Rafah, the first case of a UN casualty in the Gaza war, a spokesman for the world body said.
In northern Gaza's Jabalia, a sprawling refugee camp built to house displaced Palestinians 75 years ago, Israeli units entered an area where they said months ago they had routed Hamas forces stationed there.
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Civilians ran through the rubble-strewn streets carrying bags of belongings, according to Reuters. Tank shells fell in the center of the camp, and health officials said they had pulled from the rubble 20 bodies of those killed in overnight airstrikes.
Meanwhile, around 100,000 people took part in a rally in Tel Aviv last night on Israel's Independence Day to remember the fate of the more than 100 hostages still in the hands of the Palestinian Islamist movement "Hamas" , the organizers announced, DPA reported.
The demonstrators raised the slogan " Our hope is not lost yet". The rally was attended by relatives of the hostages and former hostages, as well as residents of the cities and municipalities affected by the October 7 terrorist attack that sparked the war in the Gaza Strip.
Many of the participants in the rally carried Israeli flags with a yellow ribbon on them - a symbol of the hostages, whose relatives and friends have been waiting for their return for more than seven months.
Israel's Independence Day celebrations this year are being kept low-key because of the October 7 attack and the war in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a pre-recorded speech that this year's Independence Day will be like no other. "The war is still raging," Netanyahu said. "It was imposed on us on that dark day of horrific bloodshed," he added.
According to health authorities in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by "Hamas", about 35,000 Palestinians have died in the war there so far.
The large number of victims among the civilian population and the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza caused sharp international reactions and criticism of Israel's actions, DPA notes.