The death toll from Israeli airstrikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Monday soared to 22 people, including a newborn baby, Palestinian health officials said.
Israeli warplanes struck three homes in a refugee camp housing more than 1 million Palestinians fleeing months of Israeli bombing, health officials said.
Among those killed were six women and five children. A 5-day-old newborn died in a strike.
“Everyone was sleeping in their own beds,” said Mahmoud Abu Taha, whose cousin was killed along with his wife and one-year-old baby in the house where at least 10 people died.
“They have nothing to do.”
Israeli military aircraft attacked three residential buildings in Rafah, where more than half of the Gaza Strip’s displaced people have taken refuge to escape Israeli attacks.
The attack came despite Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas pleading with the United States to stop Israeli attacks on border cities.
Abbas, who heads the Palestinian Authority, said only the United States could stop an Israeli attack on Rafah.
“We call on the United States of America to demand that Israel not continue its attack on Rafah. America is the only country that can stop this crime by Israel,” Abbas said at the World Economic Forum in the Saudi capital Riyadh. He spoke at a special meeting.
This coincided with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s seventh diplomatic mission to the Middle East on Monday since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October.
Before his trip to Israel this week, Blinken called on Tel Aviv to increase the flow of humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip at an event in the Saudi capital.
“Hamas has advanced a very, very generous offer from the Israeli side,” he said at the 2016 World Economic Forum gathering. Stated. Riyadh.
“They have to decide and they have to decide quickly. So we are counting on that and that they can make the right decisions and bring about fundamental changes in our dynamics. We look forward to seeing you,” Blinken said.
Israel has threatened for weeks to launch a ground assault on Rafah, and last week stepped up airstrikes to destroy what it called Hamas’s “remaining battalion.”
The US, UK and several other countries have urged Israel not to launch a ground invasion of Rafah, fearing for the lives of the refugees gathered there.
Gaza authorities remove Palestinian remains from mass grave (Getty)
Israel’s war on Gaza has so far killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, displaced most of the 2.3 million people and left much of the enclave in ruins.
The ongoing war was sparked by an October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants that left 1,200 people dead and 253 hostages taken.
In a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Joe Biden “reiterated our clear position” on the possibility of an Israeli military invasion of Rafah, the White House said.
Biden has previously said the United States would not support such operations without an adequate and credible humanitarian plan.
“The president reaffirmed his firm commitment to Israel’s security,” the White House said in a statement, without providing further details.
Egypt is scheduled to host Hamas leaders on Monday to discuss prospects for a ceasefire agreement with Israel.
Hamas said a delegation led by its Gaza deputy leader, Khalil al-Haya, will discuss Israel’s response and the cease-fire proposal it handed over to mediators in Qatar and Egypt.
Ceasefire negotiations in Cairo will take place between Hamas delegations and Qatari and Egyptian mediators, with support from the United States. A Hamas official told Reuters: “Hamas has several questions and inquiries regarding the Israeli side’s reaction to the proposal it received from his intermediary on Friday.”
