8 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes on Rafah: Report

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) - At least eight Palestinians were killed in a series of Israeli airstrikes on Rafah city, southern Gaza Strip, on the second day of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa quoted local medical sources that said five Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the vicinity of the city's Eastern Cemetery.

The three others were killed in Israeli shelling of the al-Janina neighborhood, also eastern Rafah, the news agency added.

As the Israeli military is planning to launch a ground offensive in Rafah, which is home to nearly 1.4 million displaced Palestinians, several countries, including the US, have urged Tel Aviv to abandon the plan.

Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli army announced the launch of a new "targeted" military operation in central Gaza against what it said military infrastructure of the Palestinian group Hamas.

Israel has waged a military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas which killed around 1,200 people.

Around 33,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began.

It has also imposed a crippling blockade on the seaside enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while much of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which has urged it to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.