GAZA CITY: At least 16 Palestinians on Tuesday were reported killed in a series of Israeli heavy bombing on areas in western and central Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, as the Israeli onslaught against the tiny enclave enters its 235th day.
According to an Anadolu agency (AA) correspondent, thousands of Palestinians fled the western areas of Rafah after the Israeli army expanded its incursion into the city on Monday night.
Among the victims in Rafah, seven Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes that targeted tents for displaced people in Tal al-Sultan, northwest of Rafah city center, a medical source told Anadolu.
The Israeli heavy shelling overnight on western Rafah left the medical staff and patients trapped inside the Tal al-Sultan clinic and the Indonesian field hospital in the city, witnesses said.
Israel’s current expansion of its incursion into Rafah makes the Israeli army close to fully in control of the border area between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, a demilitarised buffer zone running along the Gazan-Egyptian border.
Israel continued its brutal offensive on Gaza despite a United Nations (UN) Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.
At least 36,050 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, the vast majority being women and children, and over 81,000 others injured since October following an attack by Hamas.
More than seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel stands accused of “genocide” at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered Tel Aviv to ensure its forces do not commit acts of genocide and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza. – Bernama, Anadolu
