As the Israel-Hamas war crosses the seven-month mark, negotiations are apparently stalled to secure the release of hostages taken by the terrorist organization, and Israeli forces continue to launch incursions in the southern Gazan town of Rafah ahead of a possible large-scale invasion.
Egyptian source denies Israeli claim of tunnels in the Philadelphi corridor
A high-level Egyptian source denied Israeli reports about the existence of tunnels on the Egyptian border with Gaza, Egyptian state-run Al-Qahera News said.
The source dismissed the reports as “lies” promoted by Israel to "cover up its military failure." It added that there were "no communications with the Israeli side" regarding the allegations.
U.N. cars drive down a road along the Philadelphi, or Salaheddin corridor, a narrow buffer zone along the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt, west of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Jan. 14, 2024.
Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images, FILE
There has been no official comment from Cairo since the announcement.
Egypt has over the past decade destroyed hundreds of smuggling tunnels along its eastern border with Gaza as part of its fight against Islamist militants in its border Sinai region.
Egyptian officials have said a potential Israeli takeover of Philadelphi, a largely demilitarized buffer zone along the Gaza-Egypt border, could violate the 1979 peace deal between Egypt and Israel.
-ABC News' Ayat Al-Tawy
May 30, 2024, 12:24 PM EDT
Gaza pier built by US Army expected to be working again within a week
The damaged components of the U.S. pier built to funnel aid into Gaza are back at the Port of Ashdod undergoing repairs, a U.S. official confirmed to ABC News.
The system is expected to be back in operation on Gaza's coast within a week, the official said.
-ABC News' Matt Seyler
May 29, 2024, 4:58 PM EDT
2 Red Crescent paramedics killed in Israeli strike on ambulance
Two members of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society were killed in the bombing of an ambulance in Rafah as the Israel Defense Forces operation continues, according to the PRCS.
"The PRCS paramedics Haitham Tubasi and Suhail Hassouna were killed as a result of the Israeli occupation's direct bombing of a Palestine Red Crescent ambulance in the Tal Sultan area, west of Rafah, while they were performing their humanitarian duty," the PRCS said in a statement Wednesday.
The paramedics were heading to evacuate the wounded and martyrs in the Abu Al-Saeed roundabout area in Tal Al-Sultan, west of Rafah, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
-ABC News' WIll Gretsky
May 29, 2024, 4:25 PM EDT
Evidence indicates weapons used in deadly Rafah strike are US-made: Experts
Evidence indicates a weapon used by Israel in the Rafah strike -- that killed 50 people and injured 249 others -- on May 26 appears to be made by a U.S.-owned company, two weapons experts who reviewed photos and video of fragments at the site told ABC News.
Weapon fragments seen in video are consistent with a U.S.-made "small diameter bomb," which includes the GBU-39/B, or B/B. These types of SDB/GBU-39 weapons can carry a 37-pound warhead, consistent with statements from the IDF about what weapons were used in the strike, Trevor Ball, a former U.S. Army explosive ordinance disposal specialist, said.
"We used two small rockets, 17 kg warhead, that were fired from aircraft to hit, precisely. We've used this kind of ammunition before," Israel Defense Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told ABC News when asked about what weapons were used in the strike.
Ball identified a series of numbers beginning with “81873" marked on one fragment seen in video reviewed by ABC News. This is the Commercial and Government Entity Code, or CAGE Code, assigned by the U.S. government to aerospace manufacturing company Woodward, based in Colorado, according to U.S. government records.
A man looks on as Palestinians inspect a tent camp damaged in an Israeli strike during an Israeli military operation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 28, 2024.
Hatem Khaled/Reuters
A second former U.S. military explosive ordinance disposal specialist confirmed the fragments were consistent with the GBU-39, but asked to not be named by ABC News.
All sales of GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs to foreign entities require the State Department’s approval, but a U.S. official says Israel may have also procured the munitions through direct commercial sales that don’t meet the value threshold -- $25 million in Israel’s case -- for congressional review and public notification.
In the days following the Oct. 7 attack, Israel rushed to back up its stockpiles, including its supply of the small diameter bombs by any available means, the official said. ABC News has not confirmed if the weapons Israel received after Oct. 7 were used in the May 26 Rafah strike.
When asked if the bombs used in the strike were provided by the U.S., deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh said reporters needed to ask the Israelis during a briefing on May 28.
-ABC News' Chris Looft, Helena Skinner, Britt Clennett, Sohel Uddin, Luis Martinez, Matt Seyler, Shannon Crawford, Ellie Kaufman, Dana Savir, Camilla Alcini, Kerem Inal and Cindy Smith
