Israel has sent tanks on raids into Rafah and said its military campaign on Hamas in Gaza will likely continue all year, after Washington said the Rafah assault did not amount to a major ground operation that would trigger a change in US policy, Reuters reports.

Rafah residents said the tanks had pushed into Tel Al-Sultan in western Rafah and Yibna and near Shaboura in the centre before retreating towards a buffer zone on the border with Egypt, rather than staying put elsewhere.

Israel said its military controlled three-quarters of the buffer zone on the Egyptian border and aimed to control all of it to prevent Hamas smuggling in weapons.

Fighting in Gaza would continue throughout 2024 at least, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi added, signalling that Israel was not ready to end the fighting as demanded by Hamas, as part of a deal that would see the exchange of hostages it holds for Palestinian prisoners.

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