Israel-Hamas war: At least 35 people were killed while several others were injured in Israeli strikes in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the Palestinian health workers said. Numerous others were trapped in flaming debris, according to the officials. Women and children made up most of the dead while dozens others were wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The attacks came on Sunday (May 26) hours after a massive barrage of rockets, fired from Rafah, targeted Tel Aviv and central Israel for the first time in months.
Israeli action also came two days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to end its military offensive in Rafah where over half of Gaza’s population had sought shelter before Israel’s incursion this month.
Israeli military confirms action
Israel’s army confirmed its strike stating that it hit a Hamas installation and killed two senior Hamas terrorists.
"Eliminated in the precise airstrike in northwest Rafah: Hamas Chief of Staff in Judea and Samaria and an additional senior Hamas official," IDF posted on X.
It said that it was investigating reports that civilians were harmed. Defence Minister Yoav Gallant was in Rafah on Sunday and was briefed on the “deepening of operations” there, his office said.
Death toll likely to rise
According to a spokesperson with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, the death toll was likely to rise as the search and rescue operations were underway in Rafah's Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood.
The society asserted that the location had been designated by Israel as a “humanitarian area”. The neighbourhood is not included in areas that Israel's military ordered evacuated earlier this month.
The airstrike was reported hours after Hamas fired a barrage of rockets from Gaza. There were no reports of casualties in what appeared to be the first long-range rocket attack from Gaza since January. Hamas' military wing claimed responsibility. Israel's military said eight projectiles crossed into Israel after being launched from Rafah and “a number” were intercepted, and the launcher was destroyed.
Earlier Sunday, dozens of aid trucks entered Gaza from southern Israel under a new agreement to bypass the Rafah crossing with Egypt after Israeli forces seized the Palestinian side of it earlier this month. Israel's military said 126 aid trucks entered via the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing.
(With AP inputs)
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