The war between Israel and Hamas has been ongoing since October 7, 2023 (File)
Rapha:
The Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip said early on Monday that at least 35 people were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli attack on a displaced persons center near the southernmost Palestinian city of Rafah.
The Israeli military said it had killed two Hamas officials in an airstrike on a compound in the city, and said it was aware of reports of civilian casualties in the incident.
The Gaza Ministry said in a statement that the Israeli strikes “left 35 martyrs dead and injured dozens, most of them children and women.”
The Israeli military said its aircraft “strike a Hamas compound in Rafah” and killed Yasin Rabiya and Khaled Nagar, both senior members of the Palestinian Hamas organization in the occupied West Bank.
According to the military, the two men were involved in Hamas activities in the West Bank, including planning attacks and transferring funds, while Nagar also managed funds for the group's operations in Gaza.
“This attack was carried out using precision weaponry against legitimate targets under international law and based on precise intelligence indicating Hamas is exploiting the region,” it added.
“The (Israeli military) is aware of reports that several civilians in the area were injured as a result of the attack and fire. The incident is currently under investigation.”
“The Israeli occupation forces committed a horrific massacre with the intensive and deliberate bombing of the Barqasat evacuation centre of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the northwest of Rafah governorate,” Hamas-run government media said.
The attack “left 30 martyrs dead and dozens injured,” the statement said, adding that Israeli forces had bombarded the UNRWA center with “seven missiles.”
The Gaza Strip civil defence agency said Israeli forces had killed and wounded at least 50 people in the area, where 100,000 displaced people are living.
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders said 15 bodies had been taken to facilities it supports.
The ICRC said one of its field hospitals was receiving “an influx of wounded people seeking treatment for wounds and burns”, and other hospitals reported receiving large numbers of patients.
“Our teams are doing their best to save lives,” the ICRC said in a statement.
Airstrikes were reported in other parts of Rafah late on Sunday, and Kuwait Specialist Hospital said it had recovered three bodies, including a pregnant woman.
Israel launched a ground operation into Rafah in early May, despite widespread opposition due to concerns about the civilians sheltering there.
The Israeli military said at least eight rockets were fired from Rafah into central Israel early on Sunday.
“We struck Tel Aviv with a massive rocket attack in retaliation for the Zionist massacre of civilians,” the Hamas militant wing said in a Telegram post.
The Israeli army said in a statement late Sunday that its air force had carried out airstrikes on Rafah in retaliation.
“Rocket launchers located near two mosques in the Rafah district were hit shortly thereafter by the Israeli air force,” it said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
