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The Israeli military said the tower housing AP and Al Jazeera offices was used by Hamas for their intelligence gathering.
(Photo: Ashraf Abu Amrah/REUTERS)

The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas has claimed responsibility for a deadly rocket attack on the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza, which Israel said killed three of its soldiers and wounded a dozen others. The attack, which took place on Sunday, has further dimmed hopes for ceasefire talks currently underway in Cairo and has prompted Israel to close the crossing, used to deliver aid into the besieged coastal enclave.

According to Israel's military, 14 projectiles were launched from an area adjacent to the Rafah crossing in southern Gaza towards the Kerem Shalom crossing. Hamas' armed wing confirmed firing rockets at an Israeli army base near the crossing but did not specify the exact location from which they were fired. However, Hamas media quoted a source close to the group as saying that the commercial crossing was not the intended target.

In response to the attack, the Israeli air force carried out a rapid counter-strike, destroying the launchers from which the projectiles were fired, as well as a nearby "military structure." The military spokesman, Peter Lerner, told journalists in an online briefing, "It's a very serious event from our perspective, it's unacceptable, and the IDF (army) is investigating why the soldiers were killed as the siren was sounding."

 

The soldiers who lost their lives were hit while guarding heavy machinery, tanks, and bulldozers stationed in the area. Of the 12 wounded soldiers, three are reported to be in serious condition. Lerner added that the army was "not aware of any interception that took place" during the incoming fire and that the air force would look into exactly what happened.

Shortly after the Hamas attack, an Israeli airstrike hit a house in Rafah, killing three people and wounding several, according to Palestinian medics. The Israeli military confirmed the counter-strike, stating that it struck the launcher from which the Hamas projectiles were fired, as well as a nearby military structure.

In a statement, the Israeli military accused Hamas of systematically exploiting humanitarian facilities and spaces, and using the Gazan civilian population as human shields. "The launches carried out by Hamas adjacent to the Rafah Crossing ... are a clear example of the terrorist organisation's systematic exploitation of humanitarian facilities and spaces, and their continued use of the Gazan civilian population as human shields," the statement read. Hamas, however, denies using civilians as human shields.

The attack on the Kerem Shalom crossing comes as more than a million Palestinians are sheltering in Rafah, near the border with Egypt. Israel has vowed to enter the southern Gaza city and flush out Hamas forces there but has faced mounting pressure to hold fire as the operation could derail fragile humanitarian efforts in Gaza and endanger many more lives.

The war began after Hamas stunned Israel with a cross-border raid on Oct. 7, in which 1,200 people were killed and 252 hostages were taken, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, more than 34,600 Palestinians have been killed, 29 of them in the past 24 hours, and more than 77,000 have been wounded in Israel's assault, according to Gaza's health ministry.