The Israeli Defense Force (IDF), continuing its scorched-earth offensive against the Gaza strip, arrived at the Rafah area on Sunday night, which the Israeli government had claimed was “safe” for civilians, and conducted predawn airstrikes on Rafah city on Monday morning.
Estimates varied on the death toll after this morning’s strikes on the city that is now housing 1.4 million Palestinians, more than half of Gaza’s population, who had “tried” to escape Israel’s bombardments, in vain. According to CNN, more than 100 people were killed in the strikes.
“The recent massacres of the occupation are evidence of the validity of international warnings and fears of catastrophic results of the expansion of the war to Rafah,” tweeted the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs early Monday.
According to Palestinian sources, Israeli strikes this morning targeted 14 residences and three mosques in Rafah.
Israel’s military claimed it had attacked a number of “terror targets” in Rafah’s Shaboura sector and that the strikes were complete.
The IDF also claimed that it had freed two Israeli-Argentinian hostages under cover of the Rafah airstrikes on Monday, who had both been kidnapped by Hamas during its Oct. 7 raid. They are Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Hare, 70, according to the Israeli military.
Hamas warned that an Israeli ground attack in Rafah would “blow up” negotiations to free the last remaining hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised on Monday to continue the onslaught, a ground offensive having been authorized on Sunday.
Hamas stated in a news release, “The Nazi occupation army’s attack on the city of Rafah tonight . . . which [has] claimed the lives of more than a hundred martyrs so far, is considered a continuation of the genocidal war and the attempts at forced displacement [Israel] is waging against our Palestinian people.”
United States President Joe Biden urged Netanyahu on Sunday not to launch an attack on Rafah without a “credible and executable plan” to safeguard the safety of those seeking refuge in the city.
Netanyahu has pledged “safe passage” for Palestinians in Rafah, but a lack of clarity regarding evacuation plans has raised concerns that they could be forced into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, escalating tensions with Cairo.
Egypt warned on Sunday that there could be “dire consequences” resulting from Israel’s plan to invade the city of Rafah.
Medical sources said this brings the death toll since the start of the Israeli aggression on Gaza to 28,340 people. The number of injured individual has reached 67,984.