RAFAH: An Israeli strike in Gaza killed 31 people Sunday, the Palestinian civil defence agency said, as US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was visiting for talks on the brutal conflict and post-war scenarios.
Army troops have moved in on Gaza’s crowded far-southern city of Rafah, which they describe as the last Hamas stronghold and where the UN says 800,000 civilians have been newly displaced by the fighting.
But Israel has also fought and bombed resurgent Hamas forces in northern and central areas of Gaza previously considered to be under army control, sparking US warnings that the military could become mired in a lengthy counterinsurgency campaign.
In the latest aerial bombardment overnight, Gaza’s civil defence agency said that a strike had killed 31 people and wounded 20 more in a family house in the central Nuseirat refugee camp.
The wounded included several children and rescuers were searching the rubble for missing people, said the Palestinian official news agency Wafa, while the Israeli army said it was checking the reports.
On Saturday, Palestinian relatives wailed with grief as victims including an infant were rushed to Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Beit Lahia, following Israeli strikes and heavy clashes in Jabalia.
Abu Nabil, a Jabalia resident, said “tanks and bulldozers approached our homes, forcing us to leave, after they struck a neighbouring house, injuring us.
“I call upon all free people in the world, to anyone with a shred of humanity there are massacres happening here. Children are being torn to pieces. What’s the fault of these children and women?”
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep fighting Hamas in Gaza, following its October 7 attack on Israel, until the group is defeated and all remaining hostages are brought home.
But he has faced intense opposition and calls to announce a plan for Gaza’s post-war governance – from top ally Washington and from mass street protests, and now also from two members of his war cabinet.
One of the ministers, Benny Gantz, threatened on Saturday to quit the governing coalition unless Netanyahu approves a post-war “action plan” by June 8.
Gantz said this must include steps to defeat Hamas, to bring home the hostages, and towards the formation of an “American, European, Arab and Palestinian administration that will manage civilian affairs in the Gaza Strip”.
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