Rafah airstrike kills at least nine, raid in West Bank kills 12

Rafah: An Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah killed at least nine people, six of them children, hospital authorities said, as Israel pursued its nearly seven-month offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory.

Israel’s war against the Islamic militant group Hamas has led to a dramatic escalation of tensions in the Middle East, notably between Israel and Iran in recent weeks. Now attention returns to Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population of about 2.3 million people are sheltering, many displaced by fighting elsewhere.

Relatives sobbed and hugged children’s shrouded bodies at al-Najjar hospital. “Hamza my beloved. Your hair looks so pretty,” a mourning grandmother said.

The fatalities included Abdel-Fattah Sobhi Radwan, his wife Najlaa Ahmed Aweidah and their three children, his brother-in-law Ahmed Barhoum said. Barhoum lost his wife, Rawan Radwan, and their five-year-old daughter, Alaa.

“This is a world devoid of all human values and morals,” Barhoum said, crying as he cradled Alaa’s body. “The only martyrs were women and children.”

Israel has insisted for months that it plans a ground offensive into Rafah, where it says many remaining Hamas militants are holed up, despite calls for restraint from the international community including Israel’s staunchest ally, the United States.

Some Palestinians left an area of Rafah near the border with Egypt on Saturday after receiving an evacuation alert from the Israeli army. “Guys, they will strike at 3:40. It is happening. What time is it now?” one said. Minutes later, a strike hit. It was not immediately known whether anyone was killed.

An Israeli airstrike also hit a house in the urban refugee camp of Bureji in central Gaza, killing at least one man and injuring two others, according to authorities at the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital, where an AP journalist saw the casualties.

The war was sparked by an unprecedented October 7 raid into southern Israel by Hamas and other militant groups that killed about 1200 people, the vast majority civilians, and saw about 250 kidnapped and taken into Gaza. Israel says about 130 hostages remain in Gaza, although more than 30 have died.