2 civil defense members killed by Israeli fire in Gaza’s Rafah

By Mohamed Majed

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Two members from Gaza’s Civil Defense Agency were killed by Israeli army fire in the southern city of Rafah on Wednesday, the agency said.

The agency identified the two victims as Sohaib Abu Taqiya and Diab Abu Jamous.

At least 82 civil defense members have been killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip since last Oct. 7, according to Palestinian figures.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack last year by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 92,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

More than ten months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala