Hamas Armed Wing Claims Responsibility for Attack at Kerem Shalom, Israel Closes Crossing

Help truck at the Barrel Crossing of SALom. (Wikimedia Commons/Israel Defense Forces)

JAKARTA - The armed wing of the Palestinian militant group Hamas claimed responsibility on Sunday for the attack on the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza, which according to Israeli and Palestinian media reports caused Israeli casualties.

The Israeli military said 10 projectiles were launched from Rafah in southern Gaza towards the crossing area, quoted by Reuters, May 6.

Hamas' armed wing said they fired rockets at an Israeli military base at the crossing, but did not confirm where they fired them from. Hamas media quoted sources close to the group as saying commercial crossings were not its target.

Sunday's attack on the crossing came as hopes of ongoing ceasefire talks in Cairo faded.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had closed the Kerem Shalom crossing with the Gaza Strip to humanitarian aid trucks, following Hamas rocket attacks from the Rafah area, quoted from The Times of Israel.

Shortly after the Hamas attack, an Israeli airstrike hit a house in Rafah killing three people and wounding several others, Palestinian medics said.

The Israeli military confirmed the retaliatory strike, saying it hit the launcher from which the Hamas projectile was fired, as well as a nearby “military structure.”

"The launches carried out by Hamas near the Rafah Crossing are a clear example of the terrorist organization's systematic exploitation of humanitarian facilities and spaces, and they continue to use Gaza's civilian population as human shields," the Israeli military said.

Hamas denies accusations that it uses civilians as human shields.

It is known that more than one million Palestinians have taken refuge in Rafah, near the border with Egypt.

The latest conflict between Hamas and Israel broke out on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian militant group launched an attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and 252 hostages, according to an Israeli tally.

In response, Israel bombarded and surrounded Gaza resulting in more than 34,600 Palestinians being killed and more than 77,000 people injured according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.