In a first since Israel's pullout from Gaza last summer, Israeli tanks and infantry have taken up positions on the Egypt-Gaza border, killing two Palestinian gunmen and surrounding the Rafah border terminal, as the army broadened its search for arms smuggling tunnels.
Palestinian security officials said Israeli troops and tanks moved into the border town of Rafah before dawn on Wednesday and took over a section of the frontier.
The army said Israeli forces were widening the scope of an operation in southern Gaza aimed at uncovering tunnels used by Palestinian militants to smuggle weapons from Egypt. The army said on Wednesday it has uncovered five tunnels so far.
Israel has sent forces in and out of Gaza and stepped up airstrikes against suspected militants and weapons caches since Hamas-linked militants tunneled under the border and attacked an Israeli army post, killing two soldiers and captured another in late June.
On Wednesday morning, Israeli troops killed two Hamas militants as they approached army positions in Rafah, the army and Palestinians said. According to a statement from Hamas, one of the two was a senior militant involved in abducting the Israeli soldier, who remains in captivity.
Israel has charged that militants have smuggled large quantities of weapons over and under the border since Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza last summer.
Captain Noa Meir, an army spokeswoman, said Israel would continue military operations as long as necessary to block the flow of arms -- which she said included guns, explosives and anti-tank rockets -- into Gaza.
"The tunnels are part of a production line meant to kill Israelis, and it's our job to stop it," Meir said.
Briefing reporters during a visit to Moscow, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the operation was limited.
"We have no intention of staying anywhere in Gaza," he said.
The Palestinian officials said troops carried out house-to-house searches and bulldozers leveled agricultural land near the border. Troops also surrounded the Rafah border terminal, where about 60 Palestinian security personnel remained, the officials said. The crossing, the only land bridge from Gaza to the outside world without passing through Israel, has been closed most of the time since violence flared in June.
Meanwhile, internal Palestinian violence continued on Wednesday against the background of a power struggle between the ruling Islamic Hamas and rival Fatah.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese