14 more Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza’s Rafah

By Mohammed Majed

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – At least 14 Palestinians were killed on Saturday when Israeli warplanes bombed a house and two civilian gatherings in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that “four members of the Shaeer family, killed by Israeli airstrikes targeting a gathering of civilians in the eastern areas of Rafah city, south of the Gaza Strip, were brought to Al Kuwaiti Hospital.”

They added that Al Kuwaiti Hospital received 10 martyrs, seven of whom fell victim to the targeting of the Hashash family's house in the Arab area northwest of Rafah, and three others in a gathering of citizens in the Al Salam neighborhood east of the city.

Their bodies are in “shreds,” they said.

The witnesses added that Israeli warplanes completely bombed the Hashash house and that medical and civil defense teams are still searching for victims under the rubble.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip following Palestinian resistance group Hamas' cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people.

Nearly 34,950 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have since been killed, and nearly 78,600 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Seven months into the conflict, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Tel Aviv is committing genocide in Gaza, ordering it to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

South Africa on Friday asked the ICJ to order Israel to withdraw from Rafah as part of additional emergency measures over the war.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala