Israeli air strikes on Rafah said to kill dozens
STORY: :: Warning Graphic Content
Israeli air strikes killed at least 35 Palestinians and wounded dozens in part of the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah designated for the displaced.
That’s according to Palestinian health and civil emergency service officials on Sunday.
Video taken that day showed people searching through rubble and carrying bodies into emergency vehicles.
"We were sitting at the door of the house safely. Suddenly we heard the sound of a missile. We ran and found the street covered in smoke. We did not see anything. We went into the house and did not find anyone until we checked over the wall and found a girl and a young man who had been cut to pieces."
The Israeli military said its air force struck a Hamas compound in Rafah, and that the strike was carried out with "precise ammunition and on the basis of precise intelligence."
It said it took out Hamas' chief of staff for the West Bank and another senior official behind deadly attacks on Israelis.
The strike hit the Tel Al-Sultan neighborhood in western Rafah, setting parts of the area ablaze.
Thousands of people were taking shelter there after fleeing the eastern areas of the city where Israeli forces began a ground offensive over two weeks ago.
Gaza’s health ministry said 35 people were killed and dozens others, most of them women and children, were wounded in the attack.
Video obtained by Reuters showed several children receiving medical treatment after the strike.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said its field hospital in Rafah was receiving an influx of casualties, and that other hospitals also were taking in a large number of patients.
Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli military said eight projectiles were identified crossing from Rafah, prompting sirens to sound in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv for the first time in months.
Video obtained by Reuters showed the remains of a rocket outside a school.
Another rocket struck the roof of this home in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv.
The military added some of the projectiles were intercepted, and reported no casualties.
:: May 26, 2024
Israel has kept up operations in Rafah despite a ruling by the top U.N. court on Friday ordering it to stop attacking the city.
But Israel argues that the U.N. court's ruling allows room for some military action there, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his war cabinet later on Sunday to discuss continued operations in Rafah.
Israeli tanks have probed around the edges of the city, but have not yet entered Rafah in force.
