IDF tanks arrive at Rafah's city centre, where Yossi Cohen is said to have applied pressure. prosecutor at the ICC.
Attack planes sneak into the southern region of Israel. International organisations denounce the bombing in Rafah; the IDF intercepts two UAVs.
In the West Bank, DF security officers do nocturnal arrests of people who are wanted.
The IDF said that eight wanted individuals were taken into custody in the West Bank on Monday night by the Israel Border Police, Shin Bet (the Israel Security Agency), and the IDF.
According to Gaza's health ministry, the Israeli offensive has killed nearly 36,000 Palestinians. Israel launched the operation based on estimates that on October 7, militants in southern Israel were attacked by Hamas-led groups, killing about 1,200 people and capturing about 250 more.
Israel has announced that it will release all detainees from Rafah and expel any Hamas fighters who set up base there.
It has been criticised across the world.
Witnesses contacted by Reuters claimed to have seen tanks close to Rafah's famous al-Awda mosque.The Israeli army insisted that its soldiers were remained in the Rafah region and refuted reports that it had entered the city centre.
Residents said that its soldiers continued airstrikes and tank shelling on the city overnight, in defiance of worldwide censure following an attack on Sunday that resulted in a fire at a tent camp that killed at least 45 Palestinians, more than half of them women, children, and the elderly.
At least 26 additional civilians have been killed by Israeli shelling since the first strike, according to officials in the Hamas-run enclave of Rafah.
On one of the bloodiest bombardment nights that residents have recorded, Israeli tanks moved into western Rafah villages and took up positions on the Zurub hilltop. Witnesses claimed to have seen gunfights on Tuesday in the Zurub district between Israeli troops and fighters led by Hamas.
Witnesses in Rafah reported that the Israeli military appeared to have brought in remotely operated armoured vehicles, and there was no clear sign of humans inside or around them. There was no immediate comment from a military official for Israel.
Tanks have been circling Rafah and penetrating some of its eastern sections ever since Israel began its offensive three weeks ago by seizing control of the border crossing with Egypt, but they have not yet fully penetrated the city.
Responding to the attack on Sunday night in a camp where people who had been uprooted by attacks in other parts of Gaza had
sought safety, world leaders called for the enforcement of a World Court ruling to stop Israel's attack.
Locals reported that heavy bombardment was still occurring in the Tel Al-Sultan area, the site of Sunday's devastating hit.
"In Tel Al-Sultan, tank shells are dropping everywhere. Under constant gunfire throughout the night, many families in western Rafah have fled their homes," a resident told Reuters via a messaging app.
Over a million people have fled the Israeli assault on Rafah since early May, according to a Tuesday announcement from UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.
Despite a top U.N. court's order on Friday to stop bombarding, Israel has persisted, arguing that the court's ruling provides it some licence to use force there.
Norway, Spain, and Ireland will formally
acknowledge the existence of a Palestinian state on Tuesday, infuriating Israel, which has grown more and more alone in the wake of the almost seven-month-long struggle in Gaza.
The three countries have presented their move as a means of accelerating attempts to force a ceasefire in Israel's conflict with Hamas.
Gaza's health ministry reports that more than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed as a result of the Israeli offensive. Israel launched the operation after it estimated that on October 7, militants led by Hamas attacked towns in southern Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and kidnapping about 250 more.
Israel says it intends to free any hostages detained in Rafah and expel Hamas fighters who have made their home there.
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