Israel says more troops to 'enter Rafah' as US completes aid pier

JERUSALEM

This handout satellite image courtesy of Maxar Technologies shows tents and shelters for Palestinians displaced by the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas at the Mawasi camp near Rafah in the south of the Palestinian territory on May 15, 2024.

Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that more troops would "enter Rafah" as military operations intensify in Gaza's far-southern city, in remarks issued by his office Thursday, meanwhile U.S. troops anchored a long-awaited temporary pier, meant to boost aid deliveries into war-ravaged Gaza.

The operation "will continue as additional forces will enter" the Rafah area, Gallant said, adding that "several tunnels in the area have been destroyed by our troops... this activity will intensify".

Israeli forces took control earlier in May of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, in a push launched in defiance of U.S. warnings that around 1.4 million civilians sheltering there could be caught in the crossfire.

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has said "600,000 people have fled Rafah since military operations intensified" in Rafah.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to launch a full-scale ground operation in Rafah in a bid to dismantle the remaining battalions of Hamas.

Israel's top ally the United States has warned that it had not seen any credible Israeli plan to protect civilians in Rafah.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told NBC on Sunday that "Israel's on the trajectory, potentially, to inherit an insurgency with many armed Hamas left or, if it leaves, a vacuum filled by chaos, filled by anarchy and probably refilled by Hamas".

The Gaza war broke out after Hamas's unprecedented Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli official figures.

Israel's offensive has killed at least 35,272 people, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza.

500 tons of aid soon into Gaza via pier

The U.S. military said Thursday it expected around 500 tons of aid to enter Gaza in the coming days after an emergency pier was affixed to the shore in the war-ravaged territory.

"Just a few hours ago, the pier was successfully affixed to the beach in Gaza," said Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, deputy commander of U.S. Central Command.

"I think we're going to get about 500 tons in in the next couple of days. It's a pretty substantial amount, and it's spread out over multiple ships right now," Cooper told reporters.

The humanitarian assistance is being screened in Cyprus and loaded by truck. Once on land, it will "move quickly," being offloaded from the coast into Gaza within hours.

"Thousands of tons of aid are in the pipeline. We're seeing significant volumes of aid flow into Cyprus for further distribution," he told reporters.

Cooper said that around 1,000 U.S. soldiers and sailors were involved in the operation but that they were only involved in the pier and not in delivery — which will be handled through the United Nations — or in combat between Israel and Hamas.

"There will be no U.S. military boots on the ground in Gaza," he said.