Israel’s Attacks On Rafah Killed 67, Says Gaza
At least 67 Palestinians were killed, including babies and children, in intense overnight Israeli strikes in Rafah, according to Ashraf al-Qudra, Gaza’s Health Ministry spokesperson.
Shaboura’s ar-Rahma mosque and al-Huda mosque in the Yabna camp, where dozens of people were sheltering, were hit by the intense bombardments.
According to Al Jazeera, there have been reports of heavy shelling in the areas around the Kuwaiti Hospital.
Meanwhile, Israel’s military has said that it rescued two captives from a house in Rafah’s Shaboura neighbourhood at about 1am on Monday (23:00 GMT on Sunday).
Hamas says the strikes are “a continuation of the genocidal war” waged by Israel on the Palestinian people.
Israel is preparing for a ground incursion into the city, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinian civilians have sought refuge.
As reactions continue to trail Israel’s military incursion in the Palestine enclave Gaza, Doctors Without Borders have warned that the planned ground offensive on Rafah “must not proceed”.
Doctors Without Borders, a medical charity also known by its French acronym MSF, has said that “Israel’s declared ground offensive on Rafah would be catastrophic and must not proceed”.
“As aerial bombardment of the area continues, more than a million people, many living in tents and makeshift shelters, now face a dramatic escalation in this ongoing massacre,” it said on X.
“Nowhere in Gaza is safe, and repeated forced displacements have pushed people to Rafah, where they are trapped in a tiny patch of land and have no options,” it added.
MSF also said that since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza, the organisation’s medical teams and patients have been forced to evacuate nine different healthcare facilities in the Gaza Strip.
It said the MSF facilities have come “under fire from tanks, artillery, fighter jets, snipers and ground troops, or being subject to an evacuation order.”
Also speaking on Israel’s bombardments, the spokesperson for the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), Nebal Farsakh, told Al Jazeera that there is nowhere left in Gaza for Palestinians to go.
“Rafah already has nearly half of Gaza’s population. Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, people have been fleeing to Rafah following Israeli evacuation orders. Families have already evacuated up to 10 times,” she said.
“The question is – where should people go? There is no safe place at all and there is no way to evacuate. On top of that, there is a complete destruction of the infrastructure, and the lack of transportation as well makes it impossible for people to make their way anywhere,” Farsakh added.
