More than 100 Palestinians have been martyred and dozens injured, most of them women and children, in intense Israeli airstrikes on homes and mosques in Rafah in southern Gaza. The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) considered the attack as a continuation of the genocidal war against the Palestinian people and called for urgent international action to stop the aggression.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent reported that the intense and unprecedented Israeli bombardment focused on the northern areas of Rafah city and around the Al-Rahma Mosque in the Al-Shabora refugee camp in Rafah. Warships also shelled the seashore.
The remains of the martyrs scattered in the targeted areas due to the severity of the bombardment, filling the city’s air with thick smoke, accompanied by intensive flights of reconnaissance aircraft and helicopters.
According to Al Jazeera’s correspondent, the airstrikes destroyed Al-Huda Mosque in the Yibna camp and Al-Rahma Mosque in Al-Shabora camp, as well as 14 residential homes for the families of Al-Mughair, Al-Masri, Abu Jazr, Abu Al-Hussein, Abu Rizk, and others in Yibna, Khirbet Al-Adas, Al-Shabora, Tal Al-Sultan, Mirage area, Masbah region, and Badr camp.
The correspondent added that hundreds of citizens fled to Al Kuwaiti Hospital to escape the intense Israeli bombardment.
Earlier, Al Jazeera’s correspondent reported hearing clashes, artillery shelling, and intensive airstrikes in Rafah city, as well as shelling near the border with Egypt.
In the first statement after the bombing in Rafah, the Israeli occupation army said it carried out a series of attacks on quality targets in the Al-Shabora area south of Gaza, adding that the attacks have ended.
Incendiary Missiles
The director of Al Kuwait Hospital in Rafah, Suhaib Al-Hams, said, “The occupation forces used internationally prohibited incendiary missiles in their airstrikes on Rafah, confirming the presence of a large number of amputees, brain injuries, and burns among the injured.”
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said, “The number of martyrs in the Rafah massacre is expected to rise due to the presence of missing persons under the rubble of the homes that were targeted while their residents were inside.”
The Red Crescent added that the process of transporting martyrs and the injured is being done in a primitive manner due to the lack of a sufficient number of ambulance vehicles for rescuing the wounded after the bloody night in Rafah.
Al Jazeera obtained photos of martyrs and injured arriving at Al Kuwait Hospital in Rafah and the European Hospital in Khan Yunis as a result of the Israeli airstrikes on various areas in Rafah city.
Rafah is the last refuge for displaced persons in the devastated Gaza Strip, housing over 1.4 million Palestinians, including 1.3 million displaced from other governorates.
Genocide
In the first Palestinian response, Hamas stated that the Nazi occupation army’s attack on Rafah city this night, and its horrific massacres against innocent civilians and displaced persons including children, women, and the elderly, resulting in more than 100 martyrs so far, is a continuation of the “genocidal war” and forced displacement attempts waged against our Palestinian people.
The movement’s statement further mentioned that the Israeli attack on Rafah confirms that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is disregarding the decisions of the International Court of Justice that endorsed urgent measures to halt any actions that could be considered genocide.
Hamas held the U.S. administration and President Joe Biden personally responsible along with the occupation government for this ongoing massacre against the Palestinian people.
The Arab League, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the United Nations Security Council have been urged to take urgent action to stop Israeli aggression in Gaza.
Since October 7th, Israel has been waging a destructive war on the Gaza Strip, resulting in tens of thousands of martyrs and injured, most of them children and women, in addition to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe and massive infrastructure destruction. These actions have led Tel Aviv to face charges of “genocide” before the International Court of Justice.
