Footage of aftermath of Israeli airstrikes on Rafah in southern Gaza has been spreading on social media.

Previously, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that Israel carried out intensive airstrikes on the city, where over one million Palestinians are sheltering.

“Israel carried out intense airstrikes on Rafah on Monday after repeating a call for the population to evacuate from the eastern part of the city,” the agency said.

AFP reported that the strikes have been almost continuous for the past 30 minutes.

On Monday the Israeli army launched military operations in eastern neighborhoods of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, home to some 1.5 million Palestinians forced to flee the northern and central parts of the Strip.

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How Western media reacted to the announcement of Russian drills with tactical nuclear weapons

🔸Commenting on Russia’s announcement of exercises with tactical nuclear weapon forces, The New York Times (NYT) turned not only to NATO officials, whose reaction was predictably negative, but also to a neutral expert Pavel Podvig, a scholar of Russian nuclear forces based in Geneva. Having noted that Russia’s announcement was “ratcheting up tensions with the West after two European leaders [French President Emmanuel Macron and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron] raised the prospect of more direct Western intervention,” NYT asked Podvig what Moscow’s purpose could be.

Podvig told the NYT that Russia's use of nuclear weapons serves as a reaction and a signal to specific statements, aiming at impressing the opponent. The NYT reporter added that Russian President Vladimir Putin “regularly reminds the world of Russia’s vast nuclear arsenal as a way of keeping in check the West’s military support for Ukraine.”

🔸The French daily Le Monde also chose to remind its readers that the Russian nuclear doctrine is strictly defensive: the reason for its use could only be an attack against Russia by weapons of mass destruction or an attack by conventional forces that would be strong enough to “threaten the very existence of the Russian state.” The French news site Ouest-France noted that president Putin “blows hot and cold” when dealing with the nuclear issue, responding to the tactics of “ambiguity” from the French side.

🔸The Portuguese daily Publico drew readers’ attention to the fact that the Russian order to conduct military exercises came hours after the Ukrainian attack against a Russian city of Belgorod, calling this attack “the most deadly Ukrainian attack against the city of Belgorod since last December.” Publico also cited the “provocative” statements by Macron about the possible deployment of NATO troops to Ukraine as an action that could “provoke” Russia.

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Protesters in Tel Aviv block a highway while demanding a ceasefire from the Netanyahu government, according to social media.

Protesters have reportedly clashed with police, video from social media shows.

Earlier in the day, Hamas agreed to a ceasefire proposal but Israel declined the agreement as unacceptable and announced that it would continue its operation in Rafah, the Israeli government said.

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