Aerial bombardments and Israeli artillery continue throughout the Gaza Strip on the 231 day of war, leaving dozens of civilians dead in the last few hours, most of them women and children.

Meanwhile, Hebrew tanks are advancing towards the center of the southern city of Rafah, as published this Friday by the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

In the north of the enclave, the Israeli Army maintains its operations in the Yabalia refugee camp where it claims, in a statement published this Friday, it has killed “dozens” of fighters in the last 24 hours and destroyed launch posts and tunnels.

“The troops also located numerous weapons, including explosive devices, mortar shells, AK-47 rifles, sniper rifles and others,” they add in the military statement.

For its part, Wafa reported the death of at least five civilians by an Israeli bombing of a house west of the Yabalia camp and reported that the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia, north of the enclave and evacuated on May 21, continues to be the target of Israeli attacks.

In the center of the Strip, the Israeli Army reported that they managed to “eliminate a terrorist cell” that fired at its soldiers in a joint attack by their air and ground forces.

Wafa denounces the “fire of dozens of projectiles” against neighborhoods of Gaza City by Hebrew troops.

And in the border city with Egypt, in Rafah, where yesterday Israel indicated that about one million people have already fled from there to the places they have called ‘humanitarian zones’, their tanks advance from the east to the center of the city.

“Israeli armored military vehicles advance from the eastern area of Rafah to the city center, on the outskirts of the Shaboura refugee camp, in the midst of bombings,” Wafa added.

The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenski, plans to travel to Madrid this Monday, after having canceled the trip he had planned for May 17 due to the evolution of the war in his country against Russia, according to government sources.

As he had scheduled, Zelenski will meet with the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, with whom he is expected to sign the bilateral security agreement with which Spain undertakes to continue providing military support to Ukraine in its armed conflict.

Zelenski’s postponed visit was announced by the King’s House, which has now not detailed whether there will be a meeting with Felipe VI although on Monday the monarch only has an act first thing in the morning in Madrid.

Zarzuela then detailed that the Ukrainian president would meet with Philip VI at the Royal Palace, followed by a lunch offered by the kings.

Hours later, the Head of State announced the cancellation of the trip without detailing the reasons, although Zelenski’s office later pointed out that the president of Ukraine had given instructions to postpone his trips abroad to focus on the situation on the new front opened by Russia in the northeastern region of Kharkov.

In addition to Madrid, Zelenski had planned to travel to Portugal.

The Government did not officially announce the visit, although sources of the Executive had acknowledged the preparations and that in the course of it was planned to sign the bilateral agreement on security.

This is Zelenski’s first bilateral visit to Spain, although he was in Granada last October on the occasion of the summit of the European Political Community within the framework of the Spanish presidency of the EU.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, was in favor of resuming peace negotiations with Ukraine on Friday, although he expressed his doubts about the legitimacy of his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, whose mandate expired on May 20.

“Peace negotiations must be resumed and not through an ultimatum, but with common sense,” Putin said during a press conference in Minsk, the Belarusian capital.

Putin called on Ukraine to return to the negotiating table, although he warned that these should have as their final objective “the signing of legally binding documents.”

He recalled that Ukraine already signed a document of that kind at the end of March 2022 in Istanbul, but withdrew the signature under pressure from the West.

“Again there is talk of the need to return to the negotiations. Let them come back! But that they return not starting from what a party wants (…), but from the current situation on the ground. We are willing,” he said.

Putin wondered: “Who to negotiate with? It is not a trivial question (…) Russia is aware that the legitimacy of the current head of state (of Ukraine) has expired.”

“I believe that one of the objectives of the conference that was announced in Switzerland is that the Western community, the sponsors of the current Kiev regime, confirm the legitimacy of the current or no longer existing head of state,” he said.

When the time comes, Putin stressed that Moscow must be “completely sure” that it is dialoguing with a “legitimate power.”

Putin made this statement just as Russian troops are gaining ground both in the Donbas and in the second front that the Russian army opened in the northeastern region of Kharkov.

The Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Dmitro Kuleba, attributed this Friday the alleged willingness of the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, to declare a ceasefire with the current demarcation line on the front to the fear that inspires him by the possibility of the triumph of the Peace Summit promoted by Kiev that will take place in Switzerland next month.

“Why are there Russian sources suddenly telling the media that Putin is willing to stop the war with the current lines on the battlefield? It’s simple. Putin is desperately trying to derail the Peace Summit of June 15 and 16 in Switzerland,” Kuleba wrote on his social network account X.

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister referred to information published in international media that cited four Russian sources according to which Putin would be willing to stop hostilities if Ukraine and the West agree to freeze the conflict.

Kuleba assured that “Putin have no intention at this time to stop the aggression against Ukraine.” According to the Ukrainian minister, the Russian president fears that the Swiss summit will end with a message of “unity” from “a global majority” that forces him to “opt for peace instead of war.”

“This is what the Peace Summit aspires to achieve. And that’s what he fears,” Kuleba said.