IDF Tanks Reach Central Rafah, IDF: Small Munitions Used In Rafah Strike, Ammo Sparked Secondary Explosion

IDF tanks seen reaching central Rafah, as troops operate along key Philadelphi Route

Emanuel Fabian

Israeli tanks reached the center of Rafah for the first time on Tuesday, witnesses said, as the military pressed its incursion into Gaza’s southernmost city despite mounting international opposition to the operation.

The tanks were spotted near Al-Awda mosque, a central Rafah landmark, the witnesses told Reuters. The Israeli military said its forces continued to operate in the Rafah area without commenting on reported advances into the city center.

Footage from Al Jazeera posted to social media purported to show the tanks advancing into Rafah.

There was no immediate comment from the IDF on the witness accounts, with the military saying it will issue a statement on the Rafah operation later in the day.

Amid mounting international pressure, Israel insists that the military operation in Rafah is crucial to its goal of eliminating Hamas and freeing the hostages seized during the terror group’s October 7 massacre.

International criticism escalated after Israeli airstrikes near Rafah on Sunday night, with Hamas health authorities reporting that 45 people were killed and dozens injured in the attack and in an ensuing blaze in a camp housing displaced civilians.

The Israel Defense Forces said it had targeted a Hamas compound and eliminated two commanders in the terror group’s ranks, and that it is investigating what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a “tragic mishap.”

Exclusive footage from Al Jazeera shows Israeli occupation tanks advancing further into the west of Rafah city. The Israeli occupation intends to fully occupy the Philadelphi Axis with Egypt, effectively encircling the Strip and implementing disastrous restrictions.

Amid the mounting criticism, the IDF said Tuesday it deployed an additional brigade to southern Gaza’s Rafah.

The Bislamach Brigade — the School for Infantry Corps Professions and Squad Commanders in peacetime — joined the 162nd Division’s other brigades that have been operating in Rafah since earlier this month.

The military said it operated along the Philadelphi Corridor overnight, following information on infrastructure belonging to terror groups in the area. The IDF said troops located tunnels and weapons, and killed numerous operatives in the Rafah area.

So far amid the operation in southern Gaza’s Rafah, the IDF has captured around 70 percent of the Philadelphi Corridor — which runs for a total of 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) all along the Gaza-Egypt border — according to Hebrew media reports in recent days.

Meanwhile fighting continued in northern and central Gaza.

Dozens of sites belonging to terror groups were also destroyed during operations in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya, according to the IDF.

It said the sites in Jabaliya include observation posts, weapon depots, and a building used by Hamas.

Several operatives were killed by troops in Jabaliya in the past day, including a mortar-launching cell that was struck by a fighter jet, the military said.

IDF says it used small munitions in Rafah strike, believes ammo sparked secondary explosion

Emanuel Fabian

The Israeli military suspects munitions or some other combustible substance it was unaware of caused a secondary explosion and a fire to spread in a complex housing displaced Gazans in southern Gaza’s Rafah, killing Palestinian civilians, following an airstrike on two top Hamas terrorists in the area.

The military says it had been tracking Hamas commanders Yassin Rabia and Khaled Najjar ahead of the strike on a compound they were in on Sunday night, in the Tel Sultan neighborhood in western Rafah. According to the IDF’s intelligence, the area had been used for Hamas activity, with a rocket launcher just a few dozen meters away from where the two commanders were killed.

The military says the strike did not take place in the designated “humanitarian zone” in the al-Mawasi region on the coast, where the military has called Palestinians to evacuate to. The targeted Hamas compound is more than a kilometer away from the humanitarian zone.

According to the IDF, the strike was not intended to harm any civilians and it had carried out steps ahead of the attack to ensure that no women or children were in the Hamas compound.

Israeli fighter jets also used two small munitions in the strike, each with a 17-kilogram warhead (37-pound), in an attempt to prevent any civilian casualties, given the close proximity to the camp for displaced Palestinians.

Still, following the strike, a fire spread in the adjacent complex where Palestinian civilians were sheltering. According to Hamas health authorities in Gaza, 45 people were killed and dozens more were wounded.

The two small missiles on their own would not have been enough to spark the fire, according to the IDF’s initial probe.

The military was further investigating what exactly had sparked the fire. The IDF’s initial probe suspects ammunition, weapons, or some other material was stored in the area of the strike, causing a secondary blast and a fire that spread and killed Palestinian civilians.