TEL AVIV, May 7. /TASS/. The Israeli Defense Forces’ (IDF) operation in Rafah is aimed to exert pressure on Hamas in order to settle the ongoing conflict as soon as possible, CNN reported citing an unnamed source in Tel Aviv.
According to CNN's source, "Israel has vowed to ‘exert military pressure on Hamas’ in Rafah, and took control of the city's border crossing with Egypt, after earlier saying the ceasefire terms the Palestinian militant group responded to Monday were ‘far from’ meeting its demands."
CNN also reports that the IDF announced that it was "currently conducting targeted strikes against Hamas terror targets in eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip."
On May 5, Hamas supporters fired about ten rockets from an area near the southern Gazan city of Rafah towards the Kerem Shalom border crossing. The attack killed three Israeli service members and left at least 11 wounded. In response, the Israeli army carried out a series of airstrikes on the outskirts of Rafah in the early hours of May 6, particularly targeting a sniper stronghold and military infrastructure facilities.
Several hours after the shelling attack, Al-Qahira Al-Ihbariya said that participants in the recent round of the Cairo talks on a Gaza ceasefire had achieved "serious progress." The broadcaster added that a Hamas delegation would return to Cairo within the next two days "to give its final response to Egypt’s proposal."
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023 after militants of the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian movement Hamas launched a surprise incursion into Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 200 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly.
Hamas described its attack as a response to the Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Israel has declared a complete siege of the Gaza Strip and started a military operation there. Israel is also striking parts of Lebanon and Syria in retaliation for attacks originating from those countries. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.