Israel pushes back into north Gaza, ups pressure on Rafah

Israeli army says forces keeping Hamas from re-establishing its military capabilities in Jabalia

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CAIRO - Israel sent tanks into eastern Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip early on May 12, after a night of heavy aerial and ground bombardments, killing 19 people and wounding dozens of others, health officials said.

The death toll in Israel's military operation in Gaza has now passed 35,000, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The bombardment has laid waste to the coastal enclave and caused a deep humanitarian crisis.

Jabalia is the biggest of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps and is home to more than 100,000 people, most of whom are descendants of Palestinians who were driven from towns and villages in what is now Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that led to the creation of the state of Israel.

Late on May 11, the Israeli military said forces operating in Jabalia are preventing Hamas, which controls Gaza, from re-establishing its military capabilities there.

"We identified, in the past weeks, attempts by Hamas to rehabilitate its military capabilities in Jabalia. We are operating there to eliminate those attempts," said Rear-Admiral Daniel Hagari, Israel's military spokesman, during a briefing to reporters.

Mr Hagari also said Israeli forces operating in Gaza City's Zeitoun district killed about 30 Palestinian militants.

"Bombardment from the air and ground hasn't stopped since yesterday; they were bombing everywhere, including near schools that are housing people who lost their houses," said Mr Saed, 45, a resident of Jabalia.