By Mustafa Haboush
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - At least six Palestinians, including children, were killed on Sunday due to an Israeli airstrike targeting a house in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Medical sources at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, told Anadolu that Israeli airstrikes targeted a residence belonging to the Zorob family in Rafah city.
The attack resulted in the deaths of six Palestinians, including children, and left several others injured.
Eyewitnesses observed Israeli forces setting fire to Al-Awda Mosque, one of Rafah's well-known mosques.
The Israeli army also continues its military operations in the Shujaiya neighborhood, east of Gaza City.
Eyewitnesses informed Anadolu that Israeli forces conducted airstrikes and demolished hundreds of homes in the Shujaiya neighborhood.
Mahmoud Basal, the spokesman for the Civil Defense, told Anadolu: "We have received numerous pleas from families trapped in the Shujaiya neighborhood for days, unable to evacuate due to ongoing targeting."
Basal noted that the Israeli army "attacked hundreds of residences in the Shujaiya neighborhood."
“There are numerous casualties in homes and on the streets of the Shujaiya neighborhood, and we have been unable to access them due to ongoing heavy airstrikes and artillery bombardment,” he added.
- 'Drones targeted anyone in outskirts of Shujaiya'
Eyewitnesses informed Anadolu that since Thursday, the sounds of Israeli artillery and airstrikes have persisted unabated in Gaza City.
They described significant plumes of smoke rising from the eastern parts of Gaza City.
Witnesses also reported that Israeli drones, extensively deployed in the airspace, were targeting anyone on the outskirts of the Shujaiya neighborhood.
On Thursday, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation reported that the Israeli army launched a ground offensive in the Shujaiya neighborhood on Wednesday.
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, 2023 attack by Hamas.
More than 37,800 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and more than 86,800 others injured, according to local health authorities.
Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
* Writing by Ikram Kouachi