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SvennoJ on 20 April 2024
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Death toll rises after Israeli attack on southern Gaza’s Rafah

Sources told Al Jazeera that the death toll from the latest Israeli air raid on the Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood in Rafah has risen to 10. Among those killed in the strike in southern Gaza were six children and two women. The sources said Israeli forces targeted the home of the Radwan family in the attack.

From last night to the early hours of the morning, there was a surge in Israeli air strikes across Rafah City. This included the eastern part of the city in as-Salam neighbourhood – a densely populated area with many displaced families taking shelter in residential homes or tents. It also included the western part of the city – the Tal as-Sultan area – where the vast majority of displaced families have been sheltering since the beginning of the war.

We’re looking at a total of at least 10 people killed – nine in Tal as-Sultan, where an Israeli attack hit an apartment, causing destruction not only to the targeted building but also in the vicinity.

In the eastern part of Rafah city, initial reports said there were no casualties. But we later learned from the hospital that one woman was killed and a couple of children, as well as other people, were injured.

The aftermath of the strikes is causing internal displacement for many who have been moving from one place to another, fleeing the horror of these bombs, for the past six months. The situation in Rafah is increasingly getting very dangerous, very risky.


Aftermath of an Israeli attack on Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, on April 17, 2024.


Video footage shows destruction in central Gaza after Israeli strike

Exclusive video footage from Al Jazeera shows massive destruction following an Israeli strike on a residential area in al-Dawa, north of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. In the clip, several homes are seen completely destroyed as people inspect the aftermath of the strike.

Residents said they heard a warning to evacuate their homes before the residential block was hit by an air strike.



No plans for ‘food, water, civil services’ in Rafah evacuation ahead of Israeli ground attack: Monitors

Israeli military plans shared with the US for moving some 1.4 million Palestinian civilians out of Rafah ahead of a promised ground invasion by its forces did not include “concepts for access to food, water and other civil services” according to reports, war monitors say.

In their latest assessment of the war on Gaza, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) note that a high-level “virtual meeting” took place on Thursday between US and Israeli officials to discuss a ground incursion into southern Gaza’s Rafah – the only area in the Palestinian territory to have been spared Israel’s ground forces so far.

Further discussions between the two allies regarding the Rafah operation are reportedly on hold, according to the ISW-CTP report.

The US-based think tanks also report that Palestinian armed groups continued to launch attacks on Israeli forces in Gaza City on Friday and that the Israeli Air Force was called in to attack 25 targets to support Israeli forces operating on the ground.


Palestinians search among the rubble of destroyed buildings after the Israeli military withdrawal from the northern Nuseirat refugee camp in Deir el-Balah, Gaza

Israeli gunboats hit Deir el-Balah

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that Israeli gunboats have fired at the city of Deir el-Balah, in the latest wave of attacks to hammer the enclave’s central area. As we’ve been reporting, Israeli strikes have also hit the Nuseirat camp in the centre, entirely destroying several homes.

 

Attack drones hover above al-Mawasi as injured wait for help

Within the past two hours, there has been an attack on a residential block in the al-Mawasi evacuation zone in Khan Younis. This is where the vast majority of displaced families were ordered by the Israeli military in the initial weeks of the war to go and shelter to avoid being bombed.

There are reports of multiple injuries right now. There is difficulty in reaching those injured due to the presence of quadcopters – attack drones. This makes it very risky for civil defence crew to do their jobs and help save people.