At least 20 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes on residential buildings in Rafah

GAZA CITY, Palestine

At least 20 Palestinians, including five children, were killed and many others injured in Israeli airstrikes targeting three homes in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, early Monday, medical sources told Anadolu.

The victims were taken to Kuwaiti and Mohammed Yousef El-Najar hospitals in Rafah.

The first strike targeted a house belonging to the Al-Khatib family in the Jneina neighborhood, resulting in three fatalities, including a child, and several injuries.

The second airstrike targeted a house belonging to the Al-Khawaja family in the Shabora refugee camp, resulting in the deaths of seven Palestinians, including a baby, and injuring others.

Ten Palestinians, including three children, were also killed, and several others injured in a third airstrike targeting a house belonging to the Abu Taha family in the Salam neighborhood.

Israel has stepped up airstrikes on Rafah, where it has vowed to launch an all-out assault despite international outcry as it could cause mass casualties. The southern city hosts more than a million people displaced from the war in Gaza.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 which killed some 1,200 people.

Besides killing more than 34,000 Palestinians since then, the military campaign has turned much of the enclave of 2.3 million people into ruins, leaving most civilians homeless and at risk of famine.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul