Military action in Rafah and the southern Gaza Strip continued despite the Israeli military's announcement on Sunday of tactical pauses in operations to made it possible for humanitarian aid to access, the head of the United Nations Assistance Agency for Palestine Refugees, Philip Lazzarini, told reporters today, Reuters and BTA reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday criticized the military's announced plans to hold daily pauses in fighting along one of the main roads to the Palestinian enclave.
Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the main humanitarian aid provider for Gaza, said there had been no pause in the fighting.
"There was information that such a decision had been made, but at the political level it is said that there is no such decision," Lazzarini said at a press conference. "So for the moment I can tell you that hostilities continue in Rafah and in southern Gaza. And that operationally nothing has changed yet."
The Israeli military said today that its forces are continuing targeted intelligence-based operations in Rafah, which include close-quarters fighting with "Hamas" and seizure and destruction of weapons.
Over the weekend, the Israeli military had announced daily pauses from 05:00 GMT to 16:00 GMT in the area from Kerem Shalom in southern Israel to the Salah ad Din road and then north. Israel's military later clarified that its normal operations in Rafah would continue.
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that local residents say Israeli forces are pushing deeper into the central and western areas of Rafah, which is accompanied by heavy collateral fighting. Armed groups led by "Hamas" have been engaged in close combat in the al-Shabura camp in central Rafah, according to local residents, who report constant sounds of explosions and gunfire.