RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) – At least nine people were killed, six of them in an Israeli airstrike on a home in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, as Israel continues its nearly seven-month offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory. is a child, hospital officials announced Saturday. .
israel war Military operations against the Islamic extremist group Hamas have led to a dramatic escalation of tensions in the Middle East, particularly between the two countries. israel and iran In the last few weeks. Now, Rapha is once again in the spotlight. Rafah is home to more than half of Gaza’s roughly 2.3 million people, most of whom have been displaced by fighting elsewhere.
The attack late Friday hit the Tel Sultan neighborhood west of Rafah, Gaza’s civil defense authorities said. Relatives sobbed and hugged the wrapped bodies of their children at Al Najjar Hospital. “My dear Hamza, your hair is so beautiful,” said the grieving grandmother.
His brother-in-law, Ahmed Barhoum, said the dead included Abdelfattah Sobhi Radwan, his wife Najullah Ahmed Aweida and their three children. Barhum lost his wife Rawan Radwan and 5-year-old daughter Alaa.
“This is a world completely devoid of human values and morals,” Barhoum told The Associated Press, crying as he held Alaa’s body. “The only martyrs were women and children.”
Israel has been claiming for months that it is planning a ground attack Despite calls for restraint from the international community, it has been announced that many Hamas militants remain in Rafah. Including the United States, Israel’s most loyal ally.
Some Palestinians left the Rafah area near the Egyptian border on Saturday following an evacuation order from the Israeli military. “Guys, they attack at 3:40. It’s happening. What time is it now?” one said. A few minutes later, a strike occurred. It was not immediately clear whether anyone had died.
Also on Saturday, an Israeli airstrike hit a house in the urban refugee camp of Brej in central Gaza, killing at least one man and wounding two others, authorities at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah said. I saw the victim.
What triggered the war was The unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7th About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in attacks by Hamas and other militants, and about 250 were kidnapped and taken to Gaza.Israel says: 130 hostages remain in Gaza Even though more than 30 people died.
Many in Israel remain dissatisfied, with anti-government protesters in Tel Aviv once again calling for an agreement to hold elections and release the remaining hostages.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says the death toll of Palestinians in the conflict is at least 34,049 and 76,901 injured, with 37 bodies killed in Israeli attacks arriving at hospitals in the past 24 hours. He added that he had been transported. Hamas-run health authorities do not distinguish between numbers of fighters and civilians, but at least say: Two-thirds were children and women.
Israel blames Hamas for the civilian casualties and says it is embedded within the population.
The war has heightened tensions in the region and raised fears that violence between Israel and archrival Iran could escalate into a full-scale war.
Friday, Iran and Israel clearly downplayed Israeli airstrikes It showed it was pulling back from what could have been an all-out conflict near a major air base and nuclear facility in central Iran.In recent weeks, attacks allegedly carried out by Israel have resulted in deaths. two Iranian generals At the Iranian consulate in Syria, Iran responded as follows: unprecedented missile barrage About Israel.
Israel continues to be at odds with Iranian proxies. Across the border between Lebanon and Israel, it frequently engages in rocket and drone attacks with the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah. Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have launched attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in what they claim is a solidarity movement with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Tensions rise even within the company. Occupy the West Bank of the Jordan River. Israeli military raids on the Noor Shams urban refugee camp continued on Friday, leaving at least three militants and a 15-year-old boy dead. The Islamic Jihad militant group confirmed the deaths of three members.
The Israeli military said its forces killed 10 militants in the camp and surrounding areas and arrested eight Palestinian suspects. It was announced that nine officers and soldiers were injured.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said medical teams were alerted that several Palestinians had been killed or injured in Noor Shams, but Israeli forces blocked the medical personnel from arriving. The Palestinian Red Crescent claimed that Israeli forces “threw the injured detainee on the roadside” and that he was taken to a hospital.
At least 469 Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank have been killed by Israeli shelling since October, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said a Palestinian ambulance driver was shot dead near the town of Sawiya while trying to rescue a Palestinian injured in a clash with Israeli settlers. The Palestinian Red Crescent said Moussa was shot in the chest.a waves of settler attacks The case began a week ago when an Israeli teenager went missing and was found dead.
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Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Jack Jeffrey in Jerusalem contributed.
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