The airstrike partially destroyed a vocational college run by UNRWA that was being used to deliver aid to displaced families.
“Some people came here to get vouchers and some others were evacuees from other places who were sheltering here,” said Mohammed Tafesh, one of the witnesses. “Some people came to get water, got vouchers, and suddenly we heard a hissing sound. We just ran away, the people who came to get water threw them away.”
A Reuters photographer saw a completely destroyed building and bodies wrapped in blankets lying on the street waiting to be transported.
“We pulled out the bodies of martyrs (from the rubble), a water vendor and a person who used to sell sweets, and there were people who were distributing coupons. There were about four or five dead and 10 injured. Thank God, the condition of the injured is stable,” Tafesh said.
The Israeli military confirmed that the former UNRWA compound had been used by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and said precautions had been taken to minimize the risk of harm to civilians.
“This morning (Sunday), Israeli Air Force aircraft, under the direction of the Israel Defense Forces and intelligence from the Israel Security Agency, struck terrorist infrastructure operated by Hamas and Islamic Jihad,” the Israeli military said in a statement.
“This is yet another example of how Hamas systematically uses civilian infrastructure and civilians as human shields for its terrorist activities.”
Hamas has denied Israel's accusations that it uses civilians as human shields or uses civilian facilities for military purposes.
Juliette Touma, UNRWA's Communications Director, said the agency was investigating details of the reports of attacks before releasing further information.
“Since the start of the war, we have recorded nearly 190 buildings that we operate that have been attacked. This represents the majority of the total number of buildings that we operate in Gaza,” she said.
She also said a total of 193 UNRWA staff members had died in the conflict.
End of the “critical phase”
Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the most intense phase of fighting with Hamas in the Gaza Strip will end “very soon.” But the war will not end until the group no longer rules the Palestinian enclave.
“After this intense phase is over, we will be able to move some of our forces north. And we will do so,” he said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 14.
Israel's clashes with Hezbollah are also escalating on its northern border with Lebanon, where several Israeli towns have been evacuated. Mr Netanyahu said he was deploying troops in the north and would allow residents there to return home.
Enter Rafah
After more than eight months of fighting in Gaza, Israel's current operations focus on two areas that remain unconquered – Rafah in the far south and the area around Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.
Israel's air and ground campaign in Gaza was sparked after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages.
Israel's campaign killed nearly 37,600 people and leveled Gaza.
Locals said Israeli tanks had advanced toward the Mawasi refugee camp in northwest Rafah and were engaged in intense fighting with Hamas, as part of an operation to advance into west and north Rafah, where the Israeli military has bombed a series of buildings in recent days.
“The fighting with the resistance is very intense. The occupying forces are probing the Mawasi area, forcing families here to go to Khan Younis,” said a local resident.
The Israeli military said it was continuing to carry out “intelligence-based targeted operations” in the Rafah area and had discovered weapons caches, tunnel entrances, and killed several Hamas militants.
The armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad said their fighters attacked Israeli forces in Rafah with anti-tank missiles, mortar bombs and improvised explosive devices.
Another airstrike on Nuseirat in central Gaza killed two people.
In Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, health officials at Kamal Adwan hospital said two newborns had died of malnutrition, bringing the number of children who have died from malnutrition or lack of water since October 31 to 31, a figure health officials say is underreported.
Nguyen Quang Minh (according to Reuters)
Source: https://www.nguoiduatin.vn/israel-khong-kich-trung-tam-cuu-tro-8-nguoi-thiet-mang-a669689.html
Comment (0)