Fighting in Rafah as tensions on Israel-Lebanon border soar

At least 7 killed in western Rafah; Israeli army says it has readied Hezbollah offensive

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Air strikes and clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants rocked Gaza on June 19, as Israel's army warned it has readied an "offensive" against the Lebanese Hezbollah movement on the country's northern front.

Witnesses and the civil defence agency in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip reported Israeli bombardment in western Rafah, where medics said drone strikes and shelling killed at least seven people.

The Israeli military announced on June 16 a daily humanitarian "pause" in fighting on a key road in eastern Rafah, but a United Nations spokesman said days later that "this has yet to translate into more aid reaching people in need".

More than eight months of war, sparked by Hamas' unprecedented Oct 7 attack on Israel, have led to dire humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian territory and repeated UN warnings of famine.

The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt has been shut since Israeli troops seized its Palestinian side in early May, while nearby Kerem Shalom on the Israeli border "is operating with limited functionality, including because of fighting in the area", said UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.

He told reporters that, in recent weeks, there has been "an improvement" in aid reaching northern Gaza "but a drastic deterioration in the south".

Mr Haq said: "Basic commodities are available in markets in southern and central Gaza. But... it's unaffordable for many people."

The war has sent tensions soaring across the region, with violence involving Iran-backed Hamas allies.

The Israeli military, which has traded near-daily cross-border fire with Lebanon's Hezbollah since October, said on June 18 that "operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon were approved and validated".