TANAISTE’S ‘WAR CRIME’ WARNING
PAIR FREED AS DOZENS OF PALESTINIANS KILLED JOBAIN,
THE continued bombardment of the southern Gaza city of Rafah will “constitute a war crime”, Tanaiste Micheal Martin has said.
More than 100 people were killed yesterday morning in predawn Israeli strikes on the city, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have already sought refuge in Rafah
ISRAELI forces rescued two hostages early yesterday after storming a heavily guarded apartment in a packed town in the Gaza Strip.
It came as airstrikes carried out to cover the raid killed more than 60 Palestinians, including women and children.
The army identified those rescued as Fernando Simon Marman (60) and Louis Har (70) who were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on October 7.
They also hold Argentinian citizenship. They are among just three hostages to be rescued; a female soldier was rescued in November.
The rescue in Rafah briefly lifted the spirits of Israelis shaken by the plight of with many living in tents while food, water and medicine become increasingly scarce.
Speaking to reporters in
Cork yesterday morning, Mr Martin said he is in “no doubt that the continued bombing of Rafah will constitute a war crime”.
“It gravely violates international humanitarian law,” he the dozens of hostages held by Hamas. The nation is still reeling from the militant group’s cross-border raid last year that started the war.
The overnight bombardment brought devastation in Rafah, which is packed with some 1.4 million people, most of whom fled their homes elsewhere in Gaza to escape fighting.
Footage showed a large area of flattened houses, tents and lines of bloodied bodies.
Israel has described Rafah as the last remaining Hamas stronghold in the territory and signaled that its ground offensive said, adding that “to bomb and to mount a military operation in such a confined area, with so many people, is absolutely inhumane, unacceptable, and the international community must do everything it possibly can to put the pressure on Israel not to proceed with this invasion.”
He added that the attacks will “create catastrophic conditions”. may soon target the town on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said special forces broke into a second-floor apartment in Rafah under fire at 1.49am local time yesterday, accompanied a minute later by airstrikes on surrounding areas. He said Hamas militants were guarding the captives.
Hagari said the rescue of Marman and Har was based on precise intelligence and planned for some time.
Pale
Har’s son-in-law, Idan Begerano, who saw the released captives at the hospital where they were airlifted, said the two men were thin and pale.
Begerano said Har told him immediately upon seeing him: “You have a birthday today.”
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 28,000 Palestinians and displaced more than 80 per cent of the population.
The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned what it called a “massacre” in Rafah and accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “a mentality of revenge”.
US President Joe Biden last night said that he had been in contact with Mr Netanyahu over a deal the US had been “actively working” on that could lead to a period of calm in Gaza for at least six weeks.