RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) – As the United States moves toward approving billions of dollars in additional military aid to Israel, Israeli forces attack the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight, killing 18 people. Twenty-two people, including children, died, health authorities announced Sunday. Its close allies.
Israel bombs Rafah almost daily, where more than half of the Gaza Strip's 2.3 million people have fled. fight elsewhere.I also swear expand ground attack Despite international calls for restraint, including from the United States, it carried out protests against the militant Hamas group in Egyptian border cities.
“In the coming days, we will increase political and military pressure on Hamas, because this is the only way to recover the hostages and achieve victory. We will inflict even more painful blows on Hamas in the coming days,” Benjamin Netanyahu said. the Prime Minister said in a statement. Details were not disclosed.
The first Israeli airstrike in Rafah killed a man, his wife and their three-year-old child, according to a nearby Kuwait hospital that accepted the bodies. The woman was pregnant, but doctors were able to save the baby, the hospital said.
The second attack killed 17 children and two women from a large family, according to hospital records. Mohammed al-Beheiri said his daughter Rasha and six children, the youngest of whom was 18 months old, were also among those killed. Albeheiri said her husband's second wife and three children were still under the rubble.
The Israeli-Hamas war has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, left Gaza's two largest cities devastated and caused widespread destruction, according to local health authorities. Approximately 80% of the territory's population was evacuated to other areas of the besieged coastal enclave.
of $26 billion aid package The bill approved by the House of Representatives on Saturday includes about $9 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza, which experts say is included. on the brink of starvation. The Senate could pass the bill as soon as Tuesday, and President Joe Biden has promised to sign it immediately.
The conflict is now in its seventh month. caused regional unrest It pits Israel and the United States against Iran and allied armed groups across the Middle East.israel and iran directly exchanged fire This month, fears of an all-out war between the longtime rivals are growing.
Tensions are also rising in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli forces attacked a checkpoint with knives and guns early Sunday near the southern West Bank town of Hebron, killing two Palestinians, the military said. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said the two people killed were 18 and 19 years old and from the same family. No Israeli troops were injured, the military said.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Red Crescent rescue teams said they had recovered 14 bodies from the Israeli raid on the West Bank's Nour Shams urban refugee camp that began late Thursday. Those killed included three militants from the Islamic Jihad group and a 15-year-old boy. The military said it had killed 10 insurgents in the camp and arrested eight suspects. Nine Israeli soldiers and officers were wounded.
In a separate incident in the West Bank, an Israeli man was injured in an explosion on Sunday, the Magen David Adom rescue team said. A video circulating online shows a man approaching a Palestinian flag planted in a field. When he kicks it, an explosive device appears to go off.
At least 469 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Most were killed in Israeli military raids or violent protests that sparked gunfire.
The war in Gaza was caused by the following events: The unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7th In the incident, Hamas and other militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages.Israel is extremist They still hold about 100 hostages. The bodies of over 30 other people.
Thousands of Israelis took to the streets to demand new elections to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a deal with Hamas to free the hostages. Prime Minister Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed and all hostages are returned.
The war has left at least 34,097 Palestinians dead and another 76,980 injured, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count, but at least says: Two-thirds were children and women.. It also said the actual toll was likely much higher, as many bodies were trapped under rubble or in areas beyond the reach of medical workers.
Israel has accused Hamas of insurgents fighting in densely populated residential areas, resulting in civilian casualties. The military rarely comments on individual attacks, which often kill women and children. Without providing evidence, the military said it had killed more than 13,000 Hamas fighters.
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Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Jack Jeffrey in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
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