Israeli air strikes killed 18 Palestinians in Rafah and Deir Al-Balah, Gaza health officials said on Saturday, in the last two Gaza Strip cities where troops had not been deployed, adding to residents’ fears Israel would expand its ground operation.
Health officials said an Israeli airstrike on a house in Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are now homeless, killed 14 people including women and children.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said forces would now press on to Rafah on Gaza’s southern edge.
Tens of thousands have arrived in Rafah in recent days, carrying belongings in their arms and pulling children on carts, since Israeli forces last week launched one of their biggest assaults of the war to capture nearby Khan Younis, the main southern city.
‘I cried for help’
“The place turned black, I couldn’t see what’s in front of me. It was all dust and dirt. I was touching my surroundings, I was looking for my mobile to use the flashlight to look for my children, where are they? I found them under the rubble,” said Ahmed Bassam Al-Jamal, whose son was killed.
“I cried for help and people came. I got out Yamen, the first one, he was the only one I can see, the rest were still under the rubble. They pulled out Yamen, Eileen and Sila and they pulled out their mother (all alive). We could not find Bassam, we were looking for him, but he was buried, we could not save them, I swear we couldn’t,” Jamal said, as he bade farewell to his dead son at the hospital.
Residential district blown up
In the central Gaza Strip city of Deir Al-Balah, the second major concentration of displaced people, medics said four people were killed in an airstrike on a house earlier on Saturday.
In nearby Khan Younis, residents said the army blew up a residential district near the city centre.
The Gaza health ministry said heavy Israeli bombardment around the city’s two main hospitals continued to undermine healthcare systems and endanger the lives of staff, patients, and displaced people who have taken shelter there.
On Friday, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said four people were killed by Israeli gunfire directed against the AlAmal Hospital.
In Gaza City, health officials said two people were killed by sniper fire. Israeli forces carried out arrests in the southern suburb of Tel Al-Hawa.
The Israeli military said its forces killed dozens of Palestinian gunmen in northern Gaza.
“During targeted raids in the northern and central Gaza Strip over the last day, IDF troops killed dozens of terrorists and destroyed numerous anti-tank missile launchers,” the Israel Defense Forces said.
Ceasefire proposal
Mediators are awaiting a response from Hamas to a proposal for the war’s first extended ceasefire, drafted last week with Israeli and US spy chiefs and communicated by Egypt and Qatar. It was unclear when Hamas leaders would visit Cairo to respond.
A brief November truce lasted just one week, when 110 women, children and foreign hostages were freed in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.