Israel flattens remains of Rafah ruins as latest strikes on Gaza hit 3 homes
UN agencies say Gazans on precipice of mass hunger and disease, with conditions reported at their worst
Image | ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS/GAZA
Caption: A Palestinian man sits on debris while covering his face with his hand at the site of an Israeli strike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday. (Hatem Khaled/Reuters)
Israel's army is flattening the remaining ruins of the city of Rafah on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip, residents say, in what they fear is a part of a plan to herd the population into confinement in a giant camp on the barren ground.
No food or medical supplies have reached the 2.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip in nearly two months, since Israel imposed what has since become its longest ever total blockade of the territory, following the collapse of a six-week ceasefire.
Israel relaunched its ground campaign in mid-March and has since seized swathes of land and ordered residents out of what it says are "buffer zones" around Gaza's edges, including all of Rafah, which comprises around 20 percent of the Strip.
Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported on Saturday that the military was setting up a new "humanitarian zone" in Rafah, to which civilians would be moved after security checks to keep out Hamas fighters. Aid would be distributed by private companies.
The Israeli military has yet to comment on the report and did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Residents said massive explosions could now be heard unceasingly from the dead zone where Rafah once stood as a city of 300,000 people.
"Explosions never stop, day and night, whenever the ground shakes, we know they are destroying more homes in Rafah. Rafah is gone," Tamer, a Gaza City man displaced in Deir al-Balah, farther north, told Reuters by text message.
He said he was getting phone calls from friends as far away as across the border in Egypt whose children were being kept awake by the explosions.
Abu Mohammed, another displaced man in Gaza, told Reuters by text: "We are terrified that they could force us into Rafah, which is going to be like a cage of a concentration camp, completely sealed off from the world."
27 Palestinians reported killed in latest strikes
Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight into Monday killed at least 27 Palestinians, according to local health officials. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
An airstrike hit a home in Beit Lahiya, killing 10 people, including a Palestinian prisoner, Abdel-Fattah Abu Mahadi, who had been released as part of the ceasefire. His wife, two of their children and a grandchild were also killed, according to the Indonesian Hospital, which received the bodies.
Another strike hit a home in Gaza City, killing seven people, including two women, according to the Gaza Health Ministry's emergency service. Two other people were wounded.
Late Sunday, a strike hit a home in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing at least 10 people, including five siblings as young as four years old, according to the Health Ministry. Two other children were killed along with their parents, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies.
Gaza on precipice of mass hunger, disease: UN
Israel, which imposed its total blockade on Gaza on March 2, says enough supplies reached the territory in the previous six weeks of the truce that it does not believe the population is at risk. It says it cannot allow in food or medicine because Hamas fighters would exploit it.
United Nations agencies say Gazans are on the precipice of mass hunger and disease, with conditions now at their worst since the war began on Oct.7, 2023, when Hamas fighters attacked Israeli communities.
The UN's highest court began holding hearings on Monday into Israel's obligation to facilitate humanitarian aid to the territories it occupies.
WATCH | At least 23 killed in overnight strikes on school shelter last week:
Media Video | Deadly Israeli strikes set tents ablaze in Gaza City school-turned-shelter
Caption: At least 23 Palestinians sheltering inside of a school in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City were killed in Israeli strikes overnight Wednesday. The strikes set fire to tents and classrooms, leaving behind extensive damage.
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Talks mediated by Qatar and Egypt have so far failed to extend the ceasefire, during which Hamas released 38 hostages and Israel released hundreds of prisoners and detainees.
Fifty-nine Israeli hostages are still held in Gaza; fewer than half of them believed to be alive. Hamas says it would free them only under a deal that ends the war; Israel says it will agree only to temporary pauses in fighting unless Hamas is completely disarmed, which the fighters reject.
In Doha, Qatar's prime minister said on Sunday that efforts to reach a new ceasefire in Gaza had made some progress.
On Friday, the World Food Program said it had run out of food stocks in Gaza after the longest closure the Gaza Strip had ever faced.
Some residents toured the streets looking for weeds that grow naturally on the ground; others picked up dry leaves from trees. Desperate enough, fishermen turned to catching turtles, skinning them and selling their meat.
The Gaza war started after Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages to Gaza in the October, 2023 attacks, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel's offensive on the enclave has killed more than 51,400, according to Palestinian health officials.
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Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Palestinians say Israel and its allies fired on crowd near Gaza aid site. Hospital says 6 killed
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It paused delivery at its three distribution sites last week to hold discussions with the military about improving safety on the routes. GHF closed the Rafah site on Monday due to the 'chaos of the crowds,' according to a Facebook site associated with the group. A GHF spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Shots fired from the 'dangerous zone' Heba Joda, who was in the crowd Monday, said gunfire broke out at a roundabout where previous shootings have occurred, around a kilometer (half a mile) from the aid site. She said the shots came from the 'dangerous zone' where Israeli troops and their allies are stationed. She said she saw men from a local militia led by Yasser Abu Shabab trying to organize the crowds into lines on the road. When people pushed forward, the gunmen opened fire. People then hurled stones at them, forcing them to withdraw toward the Israeli positions, she said. 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Israel's military campaign has killed over 54,900 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up most of the dead. It does not say how many of those killed were civilians or combatants. The war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced some 90% of the population and left the territory almost completely reliant on international aid. Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Israel says it will continue the war until all the captives are returned and Hamas is defeated or disarmed and sent into exile. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that even then, Israel will maintain open-ended control over Gaza and facilitate what he refers to as the voluntary emigration of much of its population to other countries, a plan rejected by most of the international community, including the Palestinians, who view it as a blueprint for their forcible expulsion. ___ Magdy reported from Cairo. ___ Follow AP's war coverage at
Globe and Mail
4 days ago
- Globe and Mail
Eid al-Adha celebrated globally with less spending, high prices and fewer animal sacrifices
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Toronto Star
4 days ago
- Toronto Star
Gaza marks the start of Eid with outdoor prayers in the rubble and food growing ever scarcer
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinians across the war-ravaged Gaza Strip marked the start of one of Islam's most important holidays with prayers outside destroyed mosques and homes early Friday, with little hope the war with Israel will end soon. With much of Gaza in rubble, men and children were forced to hold the traditional Eid al-Adha prayers in the open air and with food supplies dwindling, families were having to make do with what they could scrape together for the three-day feast.
