Funerals were held Saturday for those killed in the previous night’s deadly attack in the western Tal as-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah, according to Gaza’s civil defense.
At al-Najjar Hospital, where the area’s main morgue is located, relatives sobbed and hugged the bodies of children wrapped in white sheets.
“Hamza my beloved. “Your hair looks so pretty,” said a grieving grandmother.
Among the dead were Abdel-Fattah Sobhi Radwan, his wife Najlaa Ahmed Aweidah and their three children, according to his brother-in-law Ahmed Barhoum. Barhoum lost his wife, Rawan Radwan, and his five-year-old daughter, Alaa.
“This is a world devoid of all human values and morals,” Barhoum told The Associated Press, crying as he gently rocked Alaa’s body.
“They bombed a house full of displaced people, women and children. “The only martyrs were women and children.”
The scene of the bodies being moved from Al Najjar hospital to their final burial was heartbreaking, said Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah.
“The majority were children, wrapped in white sheets soaked in blood… We spoke to a doctor at the hospital (where the children were taken) who described that they had devastating wounds, soaked in blood,” he added.
“Their burns were so severe that even if they had made it to the hospital alive, they would have lost their lives quickly because there is no way those injuries could be treated immediately given the current situation.”
Al Jazeera reporters said the Israeli army continued its assault on the city on Saturday.
“The fighting has not stopped,” said correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum.
Israel has been promising a major invasion of Rafah, which is home to more than half of Gaza’s population of about 2.3 million and is the only area of the territory so far spared by Israel’s ground forces.
According to two Gaza war observers, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP), US and Israeli officials held a high-level “virtual meeting” on Thursday to discuss a raid on Rafah.
The US-based think tanks said Israel shared with the US its plan to remove some 1.4 million Palestinian civilians from Rafah ahead of its promised ground invasion; However, the plan did not include “concepts for access to food, water and other civil services,” according to reports.
Al Jazeera’s Abu Azzoum added that Rafah has seen a wave of Israeli military attacks in the past two weeks and that these attacks could be seen as a sign that further military incursions could be carried out, specifically in light of the mobilization of Israeli troops near the border with Rafah.
“Right now we are in the center of Rafah and we can clearly see in the sky above the Kuwaiti hospital, at least four Israeli military surveillance drones, hovering at very low altitude.”
“Different areas have been attacked in Rafah… One of the latest attacks targeted an empty house on the western side of that very densely populated area.”
Additionally, Israeli attacks occurred on Saturday in other areas of the Gaza Strip, including the Jabalia, Nuseirat, Maghazi and Bureij refugee camps, the report continued.
More than 34,000 people have been killed and more than 76,900 injured in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7.