On Wednesday, the Israeli army announced that three soldiers were killed in action in southern Gaza as it pursued its offensive against Rafah.
The military said that three more soldiers were injured severely but gave no details. According to Kan radio from Israel, this happened when they detonated an explosive device in a building situated in Rafah.
However, in defiance of an order issued by the International Court of Justice, Israeli troops have continued to fight on in Rafah where they are seeking to eliminate the last major intact formations of Hamas fighters and free hostages.
Since Sunday’s air strike ignited a fire at a tent camp located at one of the city’s western suburbs killing 45 people or so, the international concern over Israel’s three-week-old Rafah offensive has been transformed into full-blown outrage.
The country claimed it had targeted two senior Hamas operatives without intending civilian casualties. In sorrowful mood, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “something unfortunately went tragically wrong”.
The possibility that ammunition stored near a compound hit by Sunday’s airstrike may have triggered off fuelled is being investigated by Israeli forces.
Israel ordered up to a million Palestinian civilians displaced by war that was almost eight months old to leave before it invaded Rafa at the beginning of May. So far about one million individuals have fled from there since then according UNRWA – The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.
But America –its closest ally– on Tuesday restated its opposition towards any major ground offensive by Israel in Rafah although it does not believe such an operation is currently underway.
