Hundreds of civilians killed, injured in Israeli airstrikes on Rafah

GAZA, Feb. 12 (YPA) – Hundreds of Palestinians were killed and injured, including a significant number of children and women, in the intensive shelling and airstrikes launched by Israeli occupation forces targeting various areas of Rafah, during the 129th day of the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.

Health authorities in Rafah reported the tragic killing of more than 100 civilians, including children and women, with hundreds more wounded. The casualties were rushed to hospitals across the city.

The Palestinian Red Crescent stated that Rafah is witnessing fierce Israeli airstrikes concentrated in the city center, hitting residential homes near the Red Crescent headquarters.

Director of Kuwait Hospital in the city, Suhaib Al-Hams, said the hospital is overwhelmed with seriously wounded patients and lacks sufficient medications and supplies.

Local sources said that Israeli warplanes launched approximately 40 airstrikes, targeting numerous homes and mosques sheltering displaced individuals across the city. This was accompanied by intense artillery shelling and naval bombardment on Rafah.

Civilian vehicles carrying casualties arrived at Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah, while hundreds evacuated to the hospital to escape the ongoing bombardment, according to local sources and witnesses.

Among the targeted mosques were Al-Rahma in Shaboura and Al-Huda in the Yibna refugee camp, both accommodating dozens of displaced families, along with more than 14 inhabited houses. The Israeli airstrikes also extended to areas near the border with Egypt.

Estimates indicate around 1.4 million citizens and internally displaced refugees are currently present in Rafah after Israeli occupation forces compelled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from northern Gaza to relocate southwards in the early stages of the current aggression.

E.M