Rafah, Gaza:
Residents of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, stated that Israel struck one of the biggest residential towers on Saturday. This move increased pressure on the final part of the enclave that Israel has not yet occupied, where over a million Palestinians who have been displaced are being housed.
The 12-story structure sustained damage from the explosion 500 meters from the Egyptian border.
Residents claim that dozens of families were made homeless despite the fact that no casualties were reported. When asked about the event, the Israeli military did not immediately answer.
Israel issued the 300 inhabitants of the skyscraper a 30-minute notice to leave the building at night, one of the residents told Reuters.
There was pandemonium as people were shocked and began to tumble down the stairs. People fled with their money and belongings, according to Mohammad Al-Nabrees, who also mentioned that a friend’s pregnant wife was one of the people who fell down the stairs in a panic.
The Palestinian Authority, which has limited self-rule in the occupied West Bank, another Palestinian region, is dominated by the Fatah party, whose official in Rafah expressed anxiety that hitting the Rafah tower was a precursor to an impending Israeli invasion.
After Israel’s relentless air and ground assault on Gaza for five months, thousands of Palestinians were reported to be trapped beneath debris, over 72,500 wounded, and approximately 31,000 dead.
The offensive has unleashed a humanitarian crisis on Palestinian territory, which was already struggling under a 17-year embargo spearheaded by Israel. The U.N. has warned of sickness and malnutrition, and the majority of the 2.3 million people living there have been forced to flee as much of it has been left to rubble.
Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra claimed that three Palestinian infants passed away at the northern Al Shifa Hospital over night from malnourishment and dehydration. According to Qidra, this brought the total number of Palestinian deaths from comparable causes in less than ten days to 23.
The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, stated, “This brutal war has ruptured any sense of a shared humanity.”
She demanded an end to hostilities so that real help could be sent to Gaza, the unconditional release of all captives by Hamas, and the humanitarian treatment of Palestinians detained by Israel, including their right to speak with their relatives.
According to Israeli estimates, a Hamas-led onslaught on southern Israel on October 7 resulted in 1,200 deaths and 253 hostages. This incident set off the war.
Aiming for the desired deadline of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts on or around March 10, negotiations on a truce and the release of the 134 hostages who remain in Gaza appeared to be at a standstill.
The team of Hamas was “unlikely” to travel Cairo for negotiations over the weekend, a Hamas source told Reuters. Hamas attributed the lack of progress to Israel, which has resisted offering assurances or pledges to halt the conflict or withdraw its troops from the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military announced in a statement that it had carried out arrests, found weapons, and killed over thirty fighters in Khan Younis, including in the areas near Hamad, central Gaza, and the northern Beit Hanoun area. The statement summarized the military’s activities in Gaza during the previous day.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, Israeli attacks throughout the Gaza Strip have killed at least 82 individuals in the past day.
According to medical personnel in Khan Younis, Israeli bombardment of a housing project in the Hamad neighborhood of the city and military incursions on residences claimed the lives of at least 23 persons. A Palestinian fisherman was killed by Israeli fire on a beach in the northern Gaza Strip, according to medical personnel.
(This news report is from a syndicated feed. THND team members did not write or edit the content except for the headline.)
