Israeli airstrikes in southern Gaza continued into the weekend, raising fears that ground attacks could extend to the last few areas where evacuees are taking shelter.
Gaza health officials said Saturday that Israeli airstrikes killed at least 18 Palestinians in Rafah and Deir al-Balah.
Hospital officials said 14 of the victims, including four women and three children, were members of the Hijazi family whose home was attacked in Rafah.
“Two children are still under the rubble, but we don’t know. We don’t know anything about them yet,” relative Ahmad Hijazi said of the scene.
Another strike at a residence in Albala killed four more people, the official added.
Israel has not confirmed recent airstrikes on either city.
“In stark contrast to Hamas’s deliberate attacks on Israeli men, women, and children, the Israel Defense Forces, in accordance with international law, are taking feasible precautions to reduce harm to civilians.” a military spokesperson claimed.
Rafah is the southern border of the Gaza Strip with Egypt. More than half of the region’s 2.3 million people have fled the region over the past four months as the Israel Defense Forces continued to carry out retaliatory ground attacks in the northern region.
A new wave of arrivals came this week as Israeli forces launched a major offensive on the nearby city of Khan Younis.
There is growing fear among the Palestinians crammed into Rafah of an Israeli ground attack on the areas they have been told to evacuate.Israeli Defense Minister Job Gallant said on thursday According to witnesses to Khan Yunis, the army will continue its expedition to Rafah. “The significant pressure our military exerts on Hamas targets brings us closer to the return of abductees than anything else.” [we can do]. I will continue until the end, there is no other way. ”
The latest military action in southern Gaza comes amid news that Hamas has begun to resurface in the area from which Israel withdrew most of its troops a month ago.
Four residents and a senior Hamas official say the terrorist organization is believed to be sending police officers to Gaza City and paying salaries to some civil servants.
Hamas leaders have been ordered to restore status quo in parts of the north where Israeli forces have retreated, including by stopping the looting of shops and abandoned buildings. An anonymous official told The Associated Press..
Saeed Abdelbar, a Gaza City resident, said his cousin received funds from a makeshift Hamas office that distributed $200 to government employees.
The partial payment of salaries may indicate that Israel has not dealt such a devastating blow to the terrorist organization, despite claims that it has killed more than 9,000 Hamas fighters.
The Israeli military and Hamas have been at war since mid-October, shortly after Hamas carried out a deadly terrorist attack in southern Israel on October 7.
Aside from a brief cease-fire in November, fighting has continued almost non-stop for the past four months as Israel seeks to destroy Hamas’ network of underground tunnels and root out its top leaders.
As fighting continues, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to visit the Middle East on Sunday, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and the West Bank. announced by the State Department.
The four-day tour will be Blinken’s fifth visit to the region since October 7.
with post wire
