<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Israeli forces killed 35 Palestinians in aerial and ground bombardments across the Gaza Strip today and battled in close combat with Hamas-led fighters in areas of the southern city of Rafah, health officials and Hamas media said.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Israeli tanks advanced in Rafah’s southeast, edged towards the city’s western district of Yibna and continued to operate in three eastern suburbs, residents said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The occupation (Israeli forces) is trying to move further to the west, they are on the edge of Yibna, which is densely populated. They didn’t invade it yet,” one resident said, asking not to be named.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“We hear explosions and we see black smoke coming up from the areas where the army has invaded. It was another very difficult night,” he told Reuters via a chat app.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Simultaneous Israeli assaults on the northern and southern edges of Gaza this month have caused a new exodus of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fleeing their homes, and have cut off the main access routes for aid, raising the risk of famine.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Israel says it has no choice but to attack Rafah to root out the last battalions of Hamas fighters it believes are sheltering there.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Its troops have been slowly moving into the eastern outskirts of Rafah since the start of the month.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The troops are currently operating based on information regarding terror targets in the areas of ‘Brazil’ and ‘Shaboura’ while making every effort to prevent harm to civilians and after the civilian population in the area was evacuated,” the Israeli military said in a statement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Palestinian residents said there had been no incursion in Shaboura in the centre of Rafah.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“IDF troops located a rocket launcher ready to fire at IDF troops. Moreover, the troops located and dismantled a number of terror tunnel shafts and launchers in the area, and eliminated several terrorists during close-quarters encounters,” the Israeli military statement added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">UNRWA, the main United Nations agency in Gaza, estimated as of Monday that more than 800,000 people had fled Rafah since Israel began targeting the city in early May, despite international pleas for restraint. - Reuters</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd/fas</div>