Palestinian hospital officials say Israeli airstrikes on the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip have killed at least five people.
Among those killed in the attacks overnight and Thursday were two children, identified in hospital records as Sham Najjar, 6, and Jamal Nabahan, 8.
More than half of the territory’s population of 2.3 million has sought refuge in Rafah, where Israel has carried out almost daily raids as it prepares for an offensive on the city.
In central Gaza, four people were killed in Israeli tank shelling and their bodies were taken to a local hospital. Family members told The Associated Press that they were killed while trying to move to northern Gaza, where the Israeli military prevents people from returning to their homes.
Meanwhile, a senior Hamas political official told The Associated Press that the Islamic militant group is willing to accept a five-year or longer truce with Israel and would lay down its weapons and become a political party if a Palestinian state is established. independent. along the pre-1967 borders.
That appeared to be a significant concession by the militant group, which remains officially committed to Israel’s destruction, but Israel is unlikely to consider such a scenario. It has vowed to crush Hamas, and its current leadership staunchly opposes the creation of a Palestinian state on land Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed into law a $95 billion war aid measure that includes about $9 billion in humanitarian assistance for Gaza, which experts say is on the brink of famine, as well as thousands of millions for Israel.
The war between Israel and Hamas was sparked by the unprecedented October attack. 7 in southern Israel in which 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.
The war has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, about two-thirds of them children and women.
At the moment:
— A Hamas official says the group would lay down its weapons if a two-state solution is implemented.
— World Central Kitchen workers killed by Israeli attacks on Gaza will be honored at a memorial.
— Another former State Department official alleges that the Israeli military receives ‘special treatment’ in the face of abuses.
— Biden meets with 4-year-old Abigail Edan, an American who was held hostage by Hamas.
— Explosion near ship off Yemen marks new attack by Houthi rebels after recent lull
— Hamas releases video showing well-known Israeli-American hostage.
— Biden signs $95 billion war aid measure with assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
— Police clash with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protests against Gaza war grows
— Nepal asks visiting Qatari emir to help free Nepali student held hostage by Hamas
Here’s the latest:
RAFAH, Gaza Strip – Officials at a Palestinian hospital say Israeli airstrikes on the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip have killed at least five people.
Among those killed in the attacks overnight and Thursday were two children, identified in hospital records as Sham Najjar, 6, and Jamal Nabahan, 8.
In central Gaza, four people were killed in Israeli tank shelling and their bodies were taken to a local hospital. Family members told The Associated Press that they were killed while trying to move to northern Gaza, where the Israeli military prevents people from returning to their homes.
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. He has also vowed to expand his ground offensive against the Hamas militant group to the city on the border with Egypt despite calls for restraint, including from the United States.
The war between Israel and Hamas began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 1, 2015. 7, in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and another 250 were kidnapped.
The ongoing war has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its report, but has said that around two-thirds of those killed were women and children.
The war has devastated Gaza’s two largest cities and left a swath of destruction. Around 80% of the territory’s population has fled to other parts of the defeated coastal enclave.