On Wednesday, Israeli tanks, supported by warplanes and drones, advanced further into western Rafah in the Gaza Strip, killing eight people, according to local residents and Palestinian medics.

Residents reported that tanks moved into five neighborhoods after midnight, with heavy shelling and gunfire targeting displaced families' tents in the Al-Mawasi area to the west of the coastal enclave.

Eight months into the conflict, fighting continues unabated despite international mediation efforts, primarily backed by the United States, failing to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Additionally, twelve Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a group of citizens and merchants in southern Gaza, as they awaited aid convoys at the Kerem Shalom crossing on Salahuddin Road, northeast of Rafah.

Israeli forces have heavily damaged much of Gaza and seized most of the territory but have not yet achieved their goal of eliminating Hamas and freeing Israeli hostages. Medics and Hamas media reported that eight Palestinians were killed in Al-Mawasi, causing many families to flee northward in panic. The Israeli military stated they were investigating the report.

Residents reported that Israeli forces destroyed several homes in western Rafah, an area that housed over half of Gaza's 2.3 million population before the ground offensive began last month, forcing most residents northward. UN and Palestinian figures estimate less than 100,000 people remain in the area.

A Rafah resident, who requested anonymity, described the night as horrific, with attacks from planes, drones, and tanks targeting western areas to cover the Israeli invasion. He recounted bullets and shells hitting the Mawasi area where people slept, resulting in many casualties.

Israeli Colonel Liron Batito, head of the Givati Brigade, informed military correspondents that the army planned further operations against Hamas fighters in Rafah's Shaboura and Tel Al-Sultan neighborhoods, estimating the campaign might take another month at the current intensity.

Israeli forces maintained control of the Rafah-Egypt border. Social media footage showed the destroyed Rafah crossing, buildings on fire, and Israeli tanks positioned with flags flying. The Israeli military claimed the aid flow into Gaza remained unaffected.

Further north, Israeli tanks re-entered the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City, with residents reporting intense tank and warplane fire and sounds of gun battles with Hamas-led fighters.

An Israeli airstrike on a house in Sheikh Radwan, another Gaza City suburb, killed four Palestinians, including a child, according to medics. A total of 20 people were reported killed across Gaza.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters reportedly engaged Israeli forces with anti-tank rockets, mortar bombs, and pre-planted explosive devices. Later on Wednesday, Palestinian gunmen fired rockets at the Kerem Shalom crossing, according to the Israeli military.
The conflict was triggered by an October 7 assault by Hamas-led militants into southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and capturing over 250 hostages, as per Israeli records. The ongoing offensive has devastated Gaza, resulting in over 37,400 deaths, as reported by Palestinian health authorities, and left much of the population homeless.
Repeated efforts to negotiate a ceasefire since a brief truce in November have failed, with Hamas demanding an end to the war and complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists on continuing the offensive until Hamas is eradicated and the hostages are freed.
On Wednesday, the United Nations human rights office stated that Israeli forces might have repeatedly breached fundamental war principles, failing to distinguish between civilians and fighters in Gaza. The UN report, which examined six Israeli attacks causing high casualties and significant civilian infrastructure damage, suggested possible systematic violations of distinction, proportionality, and precaution principles. Israel's permanent mission to the UN in Geneva criticized the analysis as flawed in facts, law, and methodology.