Palestinian family killed in strike on their home in Rafah, locals say

Israel intensified its bombardment of Rafah in Gaza’s south and over a dozen members of one family were killed in an air strike, residents tell Reuters

Rafah residents reached by text message reported several Israeli air strikes and large explosions in the city, as well as naval boats opening fire on beachfront areas.

Reuters video journalists filmed the aftermath of a strike on the home of the Al-Noor family in Rafah, which was reduced to rubble, showing over a dozen bodies wrapped in white or black shrouds and bereaved relatives at a Rafah hospital.

Abdulrahman Juma says his wife Noor, who was from the Al-Noor family, as well as his one-year-old daughter Kinza, had both been killed in the strike, along with Noor’s parents, brother and other relatives.

Juma was holding Kinza’s body, wrapped in a bloodstained white shroud. “This one, who is on my lap, took my soul away … She is one-and-a-half years old,” he says.

Israel says Hamas militants use civilian buildings as cover and that it doesn’t intentionally target civilians.

Local residents also say Israeli tanks had advanced west from Khan Younis into Al-Mawasi, previously an area of relative safety where the army had told Palestinians to seek shelter.

The tanks reached the coastal road, effectively cutting off Khan Younis and Rafah from the rest of the Gaza Strip, though they retreated after a few hours, according to residents.