At least 37 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes on the southern city of Rafah, according to Gaza health officials, as Israel Defense Forces said they had freed two hostages during a raid by special forces on the city.
The bodies of 20 Palestinians are at the Kuwaiti hospital, 12 at the European hospital, and five at the Abu Youssef Al-Najar hospital, officials at the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza told Reuters. Residents said two mosques and several houses were bombed.
The two hostages were freed during a raid by special forces in Gaza’s southern Rafah neighbourhood, the IDF said. They were then taken to Sheba hospital in central Israel, a statement from the hospital said, and were confirmed by doctors to be in “good condition”.
The hostages were named by the IDF on Telegram as Fernando Simon Marman (60) and Louis Har (70), both taken from the Nir Yitzhak kibbutz in the 7 October Hamas attacks.
Hamas said in a statement the Israeli attack on Rafah was a continuation of the “genocidal war” and attempted forced displacement that Israel has waged against the Palestinian people.
Heavy bombing caused widespread panic in Rafah as many people were asleep when the strikes started, according to the Reuters news agency which contacted residents using a chat app.
The Israeli military said earlier on Monday it had conducted a “series of strikes” on southern Gaza that have now “concluded”, without providing further details amid international concerns about the prospect of an offensive on the southern city.
US President Joe Biden told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday that Israel should not launch a military operation in Rafah without a credible plan to ensure the safety of the roughly 1 million people sheltering there, the White House said.
Netanyahu appears determined to push ahead with a ground offensive against Gaza’s southernmost town of Rafah but has claimed Israel will provide safe passage to the 1.3 million displaced Palestinians sheltering there.
Despite mounting warnings from aid agencies and the international community that an assault on Rafah would be a catastrophe, Netanyahu has reiterated his intention to extend Israel’s military operation against Hamas. Hamas stated that a new advance into Rafah would “blow up” ongoing negotiations to return hostages in return for a ceasefire.
“We’re going to do it,” Israel’s prime minister told ABC News in an interview aired on Sunday. “We’re going to get the remaining Hamas terrorist battalions in Rafah, which is the last bastion, but we’re going to do it.”
He added: “We’re going to do it while providing safe passage for the civilian population so they can leave.”
As Israeli forces have expanded ground operations steadily southwards in their war against Hamas over the past four months, Rafah has become the last refuge for more than half of the strip’s population of 2.3 million.
It remains unclear where the large number of people pressed up against the border with Egypt in overcrowded makeshift tent camps can go. When asked, Netanyahu said Israel was “working out a detailed plan”.
He said: “We’re not cavalier about this. This is part of our war effort to get civilians out of harm’s way. It’s part of Hamas’s effort to keep them in harm’s way.”
The prime minister has not provided details or a timeline on a ground invasion in Rafah, which Israel previously designated as a safe zone.
The southern city has become the last major population centre in Gaza that troops have yet to enter, even as it is bombarded by airstrikes almost daily. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had killed two “senior Hamas operatives” in a strike on Rafah on Saturday.
Israel’s war in Gaza, now in its fifth month, was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on 7 October in which 1,200 people were killed and a further 250 abducted as bargaining chips.
The Gaza health ministry said on Sunday that 28,176 Palestinians had been killed and 67,784 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October. It said 112 Palestinians had been killed and 173 injured in the past 24 hours.
Netanyahu’s announcement on Friday that he had instructed the IDF and defence ministry to draw up plans for troops to enter Rafah and evacuate civilians prompted international concern.
The German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, posted on X on Saturday: “The people in Gaza cannot disappear into thin air.”
With Emine Sinmaz in Jerusalem and Reuters
David Turner is a globe-trotting journalist who brings a global perspective to our readers. With a commitment to shedding light on international events, he explores complex geopolitical issues, offering a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
