RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight killed 13 people, including nine children, health officials said Sunday, as the United States was on track to approve billions of dollars in military aid additional for your close ally.
Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have sought refuge from the fighting elsewhere. It has also vowed to expand its ground offensive to the city on the border with Egypt despite international calls for restraint, including from the United States.
The House of Representatives on Saturday approved a $26 billion aid package that includes about $9 billion in humanitarian assistance for Gaza.
The first attack killed a man, his wife and their three-year-old son, according to the nearby Kuwaiti hospital, which received the bodies. The woman was pregnant and doctors managed to save the baby, the hospital said.
The second attack killed eight children and two women, all from the same family, according to hospital records. An airstrike in Rafah the night before killed nine people, including six children.
The war between Israel and Hamas has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, devastated Gaza’s two largest cities and left a swath of destruction across the territory. About 80% of the population has fled their homes to other parts of the defeated coastal enclave, which experts say is on the brink of famine.
The conflict, now in its seventh month, has sparked regional unrest pitting Israel and the United States against Iran and allied militant groups across the Middle East. Israel and Iran exchanged fire directly earlier this month, raising fears of an all-out war between the long-standing enemies.
Tensions have also increased in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The Israeli military said troops “neutralized” two Palestinians who attacked a checkpoint with a knife and a gun near the southern West Bank city of Hebron early Sunday. It was not immediately clear if they were killed. No Israeli forces were injured.
At least 469 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Most have died during Israeli military arrest raids, which often spark gunfights, or in violent protests.
The war in Gaza was sparked by an unprecedented event on October 1. 7 in southern Israel in which Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 250 hostages. Israel says militants are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.
Thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets to call for new elections to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and an agreement with Hamas to free the hostages. Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed and all hostages are returned.
The war has killed at least 34,049 Palestinians and injured 76,901 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its count, but says at least two-thirds have been children and women. It also says the real number of victims is likely higher, as many bodies are trapped under debris left by airstrikes or in areas unreachable by medics.
Israel blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the militants fight in dense residential neighborhoods, but the military rarely comments on individual attacks, which often kill women and children. The army says it has killed more than 13,000 Hamas fighters, without providing evidence.
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Magdy reported from Cairo.
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