A house in Gaza’s southernmost city was targeted by an Israeli airstrike, resulting in the deaths of at least nine individuals, including six children, according to hospital officials on Saturday. This incident occurred amidst Israel’s ongoing offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory, which has persisted for nearly seven months.
Tensions in the already unstable Middle East have dramatically increased as a result of Israel’s battle against the Islamic militant organization Hamas.
According to Gaza’s civil defense, the late-Friday strike targeted a residential structure in the city of Rafah’s western Tel Sultan district. According to hospital records, the bodies of the six children, two women, and one male were brought to the Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital in Rafah.
At the hospital, family members wept and embraced the bodies of the children, who were wrapped in white shrouds, while others offered them consolation.
The casualties comprised Abdel-Fattah Sobhi Radwan, his wife Najlaa Ahmed Aweidah, and their three children, as confirmed by his brother-in-law Ahmed Barhoum. Barhoum himself lost his wife, Rawan Radwan, and their 5-year-old daughter, Alaa.
“This is a world devoid of all human values and morals,” Barhoum lamented to The Associated Press on Saturday morning, tears streaming down his face as he cradled and gently rocked the body of Alaa in his arms. “They bombed a house full of displaced people, women and children. There were no martyrs but women and children.”
No casualties were reported from a second overnight strike in the city.
Rafah, situated on the border with Egypt, is presently home to over half of Gaza’s total population of approximately 2.3 million individuals. The majority of these residents have been displaced due to ongoing conflict in the northern regions of the territory.
The Israeli government has declared for months that it plans to launch a ground offensive into the city, where it claims many of the surviving Hamas fighters are holed up, despite appeals for moderation from the international community, including Israel’s most ardent ally, the United States.
A ground operation has yet to materialize; however, the Israeli military has conducted numerous airstrikes on and around the city.
The war began on Oct 7, when Hamas and other terrorist groups launched an unprecedented invasion into southern Israel, killing over 1,200 people—the great majority of them were civilians—and kidnapping nearly 250 others, taking them into Gaza. Though more than thirty hostages have already been confirmed dead either killed on October 7 or from being held captive, Israel claims that over 130 captives are still in Gaza.