The Israeli army bombarded Rafah by air and ground on Wednesday, ignoring international condemnations after strikes on camps for displaced Palestinians in this town in the south of the Gaza Strip which left more than 65 dead according to Hamas.
In the past 24 hours, 75 Palestinians have died in Israeli military operations in Gaza, bringing the death toll, mostly civilians, in the besieged territory to at least 36,171, according to data Wednesday from the Gaza Health Ministry. the Hamas administration.
In New York, Algeria presented a draft resolution to the UN Security Council on Tuesday demanding an “immediate” ceasefire and an end to the offensive in Rafah, which has become the epicenter of the war. between Israel and Palestinian Hamas triggered almost eight months ago.
China has said it hopes for a vote this week as the Council is due to meet on Wednesday for its monthly meeting on the Palestinian Territories.
The Algerian draft was distributed after an emergency meeting of the Council to discuss an Israeli bombing Sunday on a camp for displaced people in Rafah which left 45 dead according to the Health Ministry of the Hamas administration, a movement which took power in Gaza in 2007.
On the day of the Security Council meeting, helpless in the face of this devastating conflict, the Gaza Civil Defense announced the death of 21 Palestinians in an Israeli strike on another displaced persons camp in Rafah.
On Wednesday in the same city, street fighting pitted soldiers and Palestinian fighters, an Israeli helicopter fired into the center and intensive shelling targeted an area on the edge of the city, said witnesses who saw Israeli tanks. in different sectors, notably the center. Hamas said it fired rockets at soldiers near the Yebna camp in Rafah.
“I lost two children”
Still in the south of the strip of land 40 km long and 10 km wide, three bodies were taken out of the rubble of a house hit by an Israeli bombardment in Khan Younes, according to Civil Defense.
“I lost two of my children, Haydar, 8 years old, and Mecca, 5 years old, my only daughter,” killed in Israeli strikes on Khan Younès, says a tearful Rami Abou Jazar after saying goodbye to his children wrapped in white shrouds.
In the north of the territory, Israeli military vehicles opened fire in Gaza City and strikes targeted areas in Jabalia, witnesses said.
After an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on October 7 against Israeli territory carried out from Gaza, Israel vowed to annihilate Hamas, which it considers a terrorist movement along with the United States and Israel. European Union.
His army launched a campaign of intense and incessant air and ground bombardments followed by a ground offensive which, in addition to a heavy human toll, destroyed numerous neighborhoods and displaced the majority of the approximately 2.4 million inhabitants while according to the There is no longer a safe place in Gaza. They also caused a humanitarian catastrophe with a threat of famine according to the United Nations.
The October 7 attack in southern Israel resulted in the deaths of more than 1,189 people, mostly civilians, according to a count carried out by AFP based on the latest official figures available. Of the 252 people taken as hostages during the attack, 121 are still detained in Gaza, of whom 37 have died according to the army.
Since the start of the Israeli ground offensive in Gaza on October 27, 292 soldiers have died according to the army.
“Not a big bomb”
Israel’s main political and military supporter, the United States has affirmed that it “does not turn a blind eye” to the victims in Rafah, but continues to judge that Israel has not launched a “major” offensive against this city. » likely to call into question their support, according to the White House.
“The Israelis said they were using (in Rafah) 37-pound (around 17 kilo) bombs,” “37 pounds is not a big bomb,” said the spokesperson for the US National Security Council John Kirby, saying he was waiting for the results of the Israeli investigation into the bombing of the displaced persons camp on Sunday in Rafah.
“People burned,” Mohammad Hamad told AFP, after this bombing which caused a fire that ravaged the camp and where many bodies, including those of children, were charred according to Civil Defense.
The army said it had launched an investigation, but said the munitions it used could not have “alone” caused the fire.
Since the entry of Israeli tanks into eastern Rafah on May 7, around a million people have already fled the city where more than 1.4 million Palestinians, the vast majority of whom were displaced, were crowded together.
And since the closure of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, after the arrival of Israeli tanks on the Palestinian side, the delivery of humanitarian aid, vital for the population of Gaza, has virtually come to a standstill.
For the first time since May 13, the World Health Organization reported having successfully delivered fuel and equipment to Al-Ahli hospital in northern Gaza.