Israeli air attacks kill 100 in Gaza as US calls for Rafah evacuation
Israeli strikes in Gaza killed more than 100 Palestinians in 48 hours as the White House reaffirmed that it would not endorse an invasion of the southern city of Rafah without a plan to move civilians out of harm’s way.
Air attacks on three homes in Rafah yesterday killed 21 people, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Four were killed in later strikes on the city, taking yesterday’s toll in Rafah to 25.
A total of 34 Palestinians were killed from Sunday morning to yesterday, after 66 people were killed and 138 others were injured between Saturday to the early hours of Sunday, according to figures from the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Other civilians, including women and children, were killed in shelling, air strikes and drone attacks in central and northern parts of the coastal enclave as Israel continued its relentless bombing campaign against Hamas.
One of the houses attacked in Rafah belonged to Osama Al Khateb, who lost two of his daughters and a brother in the bombing.
Mr Al Khateb was injured and rescued from the rubble of his home.
“We were sleeping when suddenly the shelling happened,” he told The National.
“I woke up and found myself under the rubble.”
In another house, Sanaa’s two daughters and son were killed in one of the strikes.
“My two little girls passed away and the last thing I said to them was to pray for the war to end,” she said. “I didn’t know that their lives would end, not the war.” Residents said 10 people, including two children, were killed in an attack on a third house.
“They targeted the house with heavy bombs, causing extensive damage, affecting more than four houses with the shelling,” neighbour Mahmoud Abu Yonis told The National.
The latest strikes came as an invasion of the southern city of Rafah looked imminent amid efforts to reach a truce deal to pause the war and enable the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas fighters.
About 1.5 million people have taken refuge on the border between Egypt and Rafah.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas appealed to Washington to block an Israeli Rafah invasion, warning the incursion could come “within days”.