Israeli military

Israeli forces on Friday struck targets across the Gaza Strip, with witnesses reporting air raids around the southern city of Rafah, the latest focus of the nearly eight-month war.

Israel launched its military incursion into Rafah in early May despite international objections over the safety of civilians sheltering in the city on Gaza's border with Egypt.

The United States asserts that Israel did not cross any red lines in its recent operation in Rafah. John Kirby, the White House's national security spokesperson, made this statement, emphasizing that Washington condemns the loss of life in Gaza but currently has no intentions of altering its policy towards Tel Aviv.

Israeli tanks have advanced to the center of Rafah, marking their first presence in the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip since the ground operation began, according to reports from global agencies citing witnesses.

Israeli military sent its tanks into the center of Rafah for the first time in three-week ground operation on Tuesday despite a global storm of outrage over a strike that set ablaze a crowded tent city, killing 45 people according to Palestinian officials.

The U.N. Security Council was set to convene an emergency meeting Tuesday over an Israeli strike that killed dozens in a displaced persons camp in Rafah, as three European countries were slated to formally recognise a Palestinian state.

A spokesman for Hamas' armed wing announced that its fighters captured Israeli soldiers during clashes in Jabalia in northern Gaza, though the Israeli military denied this claim, according to reports from Reuters.

The Hamas spokesman did not specify the number of soldiers allegedly captured or provide evidence to support his statement.

Israel bombed the Gaza Strip, including Rafah, on Saturday, a day after the top U.N. court ordered it to halt military operations in the southern city as efforts get underway in Paris to seek a ceasefire in the war sparked by Hamas's Oct. 7 attack.

Palestinian health officials said Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians during a raid Tuesday in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, where the military said it had launched a counterterrorism operation.

The Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah said nine more people had been wounded, including two who were in critical condition.

A Gaza hospital said Sunday that an Israeli air strike targeting a house at a refugee camp in the centre of the Palestinian territory killed at least 31 people.

Greek police clashed with protesters after a pro-Palestinian march to the Israeli embassy in Athens on Wednesday, Reuters witnesses and police officials said.

More than 2,500 people marched through the streets of Athens to the embassy carrying Palestinian flags and chanting "Free Palestine!"