Israeli Airstrikes Kill 6 Palestinians In Rafah, Including 2 Children

At least six Palestinians were killed, including two children, and several others injured in Israeli airstrikes in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

"At least six martyrs, including two children, one of them an infant, and others injured in varying degrees were brought to Abu Yousef Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah," a medical source informed an Anadolu correspondent.

The correspondent reported that Israeli warplanes targeted a house belonging to the Qeshta family on George Street opposite Haroun Al-Rashid Mosque without prior warning, resulting in fatalities and injuries.

He added that another airstrike by Israeli warplanes occurred in the Al-Salam neighborhood, which had been previously warned.

Civil defense teams and medical crews are still working to retrieve the bodies of the deceased from under the rubble.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a cross-border attack on Oct. 7 last year by the Palestinian group Hamas, which killed about 1,200 people. Nearly 34,700 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and 78,000 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Nearly seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave's population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians there.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala -