Israel bombed at least three homes in Rafah overnight, raising new fear among the more than a million people sheltering in the last refuge on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip that a long-threatened ground assault could be coming.
\nOne of the airstrikes killed 11 people from a family, health officials said.
\nMussa Dhaheer, looking on from below as neighbours helped an emergency worker lower a victim in a black body bag from an upper storey, said he had awakened to the blast, kissed his terrified daughter, and rushed outside to find the destruction. His father, 75, and mother, 62, were among the dead.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know what to do. I don\u2019t know what to say. I can\u2019t make sense of what happened. My parents. My father with his displaced friends who came from Gaza City,\u201d he told Reuters.
\n\u201cThey were all together, when suddenly they were all gone like dust.\u201d
\nAt another bomb site, Jamil Abu Houri said the intensification of air strikes was Israel\u2019s way of showing its disdain for a U.N. Security Council resolution last week demanding an immediate ceasefire. Next up, he fears a ground assault on Rafah, which Israel has threatened to carry out despite pleas from its closest ally Washington that this would cause too much harm to civilians.
\n\u201cThe bombing has increased, and they have threatened us with an incursion, and they say that have been given the green light for the Rafah incursion. Where is the Security Council?\u201d Abu Houri said.
\n\u201cLook at our little ones. Look at our children. Where should we go? Where should we go?\u201d
\nSeparately, in the Israeli occupied West Bank, which has seen worsening bloodshed in parallel with the Gaza war, three Palestinians were killed and four others wounded by Israeli fire during a raid in Jenin overnight, the Palestinian health ministry said on Wednesday.
\nAt least 32,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel\u2019s offensive into Hamas-run Gaza, according to the health ministry there, with thousands of other dead believed unrecovered under rubble. The war began after Hamas fighters raided Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting 253 hostages according to Israeli tallies.
\nIsraeli forces just north of Rafah kept the two main hospitals in Khan Younis, Al-Amal and Nasser Hospital, under a blockade imposed late last week. In the north, they were still operating inside Al Shifa, the enclave\u2019s largest hospital, which they stormed more than a week ago.
\nIsrael says the hospitals have been used by Hamas fighters, which Hamas and medical staff deny. The Israeli military has said it killed and captured hundreds of fighters in a battle in Al Shifa. Hamas says civilians and medics were rounded up.
\nGaza\u2019s health ministry said wounded people and patients were being held inside the human resources department that was not equipped to provide them with healthcare.
\nResidents living nearby report hearing explosions in and around Al Shifa and lines of smoke coming from buildings inside the medical facility.
\n\u201cA war zone, this is how it looks in and around Al Shifa,\u201d Mohammad Jamal, 25, who lives 1 km away from Al Shifa, said via a mobile phone chat app.
\n\u201cExplosions never stop, we see lines of smoke coming from inside, no one moves even in streets that are hundreds of meters away because of Israeli snipers on rooftops of buildings,\u201d he said.
\n(Reuters)bombing. Israel, bombings, Rafah<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israel bombed at least three homes in Rafah overnight, killing 11 people from a family. Residents fear a ground assault could be coming despite a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire. In the West Bank, three Palestinians were killed and four wounded by Israeli fire during a raid in Jenin. Israeli forces have imposed a blockade on hospitals in Gaza, claiming they have been used by Hamas fighters. Residents report hearing explosions and seeing smoke coming from buildings inside the medical facility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1521,3258,2382,3268,1943,1902,2994,384,3766,924,1423,3194,1027,2459,118,145,895,3526,298,210,2581,793,156,2476,1025,299,3270,1350,896,185,3504,2073,462,837,1538,827,3660,3269,114,3524,380,293,3519,1859,18],"class_list":["post-5772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-1521","tag-air","tag-air-strikes","tag-al-shifa","tag-assault","tag-bank","tag-bomb","tag-bombing","tag-bombings","tag-buildings","tag-ceasefire","tag-destruction","tag-dust","tag-family","tag-fire","tag-gaza","tag-gaza-strip","tag-ground-assault","tag-hamas","tag-health","tag-health-ministry","tag-healthcare","tag-hospital","tag-hospitals","tag-hostages","tag-israel","tag-israeli-forces","tag-israeli-military","tag-khan-younis","tag-main","tag-military","tag-mobile-phone","tag-palestinians","tag-rafah","tag-resolution","tag-security","tag-security-council","tag-strikes","tag-top-news","tag-u-n-security-council-resolution","tag-us","tag-war","tag-washington","tag-west-bank","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n