Israeli troops advance further into Philadelphi Corridor

ANKARA

Israeli troops on Friday advanced further into the Philadelphi Corridor between Egypt and Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, and now just 400 meters from the Mediterranean Sea.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that Israeli forces advanced to the Swedish Village area, 400 meters from the Mediterranean Sea, expanding their incursion into the Philadelphi Corridor, a 14-kilometer (8.69-mile) demilitarized buffer zone running along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since a Hamas attack last Oct. 7 despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 36,700 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 83,500 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi in Ankara