Israeli airstrikes in the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight killed at least 22 people, including 18 children, according to health officials on Sunday. The strikes come as the United States is on track to approve billions of dollars in additional military aid to Israel, its close ally, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hamas militant group.
The first Israeli strike in Rafah claimed the lives of a man, his wife, and their 3-year-old child, as confirmed by the nearby Kuwaiti Hospital. Doctors managed to save the woman's unborn baby. A second strike killed 17 children and two women from an extended family, leaving relatives questioning the targeting of sleeping children and expressing horror at the condition of the victims.
Mohammed al-Beheiri recounted the tragic loss of his daughter Rasha and her six children, the youngest being just 18 months old. Additionally, a woman and three children remained trapped under debris.
Israel has been conducting daily air raids on Rafah, where 2.3 million of Gaza's inhabitants have sought refuge from conflict elsewhere. Despite international calls for restraint, including from the US, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to intensify political and military pressure on Hamas in the coming days to secure the release of hostages and achieve victory. However, he provided no specifics on these actions.
According to local health officials, the Israel-Hamas conflict has resulted in the deaths of over 34,000 Palestinians, with at least two-thirds of them being children and women. This prolonged conflict, now in its seventh month, has left Gaza's major cities devastated and forced approximately 80% of the population to seek refuge elsewhere within the besieged coastal enclave.
The $26 billion aid package approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday includes around $9 billion in humanitarian assistance for Gaza, which experts warn is teetering on the brink of famine. The Senate is expected to ratify the package by Tuesday, with President Joe Biden pledging immediate enactment upon passage.
The conflict has sparked regional unrest, pitting Israel and the U.S. against Iran and allied militant groups across the Middle East. Tensions have also spiked in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, with Israeli troops killing two Palestinians who allegedly attacked a checkpoint near Hebron on Sunday and a 43-year-old Palestinian woman who attempted to stab a soldier near Beka'ot settlement.
The Palestinian Red Crescent rescue service reported recovering 14 bodies from an Israeli raid in the Nur Shams urban refugee camp in the West Bank that began late Thursday. The military said it killed 14 militants and arrested eight suspects, with ten Israeli soldiers and one border police officer wounded in the operation.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, at least 469 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Most have been killed during Israeli military raids or in violent protests.
The war was sparked by an unprecedented Oct. 7 raid into southern Israel in which Hamas and other militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 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 a new election to replace Netanyahu and a deal with Hamas to release the hostages. However, Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed and all hostages are returned.
