Israel confirms its forces are in central Rafah, defying international condemnation of operation in southern Gazan city

The Israeli military is in central Rafah, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed in a statement Friday, despite international concern and anger over its military operation in Gaza’s southernmost city.

The Israeli military is in central Rafah, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed in a statement Friday, despite international concern and anger over its military operation in Gaza’s southernmost city. The IDF statement confirms what eyewitnesses told CNN earlier this week, when tanks were spotted in central Rafah for the first time since it entered the city earlier this month. “IDF troops in central Rafah located Hamas rocket launchers, terror tunnel shafts, and weapons. The troops also dismantled a Hamas weapons storage facility in the area,” the IDF said in the statement. On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it had established “operational control” over the Philadelphi Corridor, a 14-kilometer (8.7-mile) buffer zone on the Palestinian side of the Egypt-Gaza border. Access to cell phone services in Rafah was interrupted on Thursday due to the ongoing Israeli offensive, Palestinian telecommunications company Jawwal said in a statement. Israel’s incursion into Rafah earlier in May marked a new phase in its war against Hamas in Gaza, which has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in the enclave, displaced the majority of the strip’s population and sparked a humanitarian catastrophe that has appalled international agencies.