Israeli airstrikes kill 35 in Gaza’s Rafah as displaced people are hit

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah. Pics/AFP

Palestinian health workers said Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 35 people and hit tents for displaced people in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, and "numerous" others were trapped in flaming debris. Gaza's Health Ministry said women and children made up most of the dead and dozens of wounded.

The attacks came on Sunday, two days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to end its military offensive in Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's population had sought shelter before Israel's incursion earlier this month. Tens of thousands of people remain in the area while many others have fled.

Bodies of the deceased being transported to hospital in a pick-up truck

Footage from the scene of the largest airstrike showed heavy destruction. Israel's army confirmed the strike and said it hit a Hamas installation and killed two senior Hamas militants. It said it was investigating reports that civilians were harmed. Defence Minister Yoav Gallant was in Rafah on Sunday and was briefed on the "deepening of operations" there, his office said.

A spokesperson with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said the death toll was likely to rise as search and rescue efforts continued in Rafah's Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood about two kilometres northwest of the city centre. The society asserted that the location had been designated by Israel as a "humanitarian area".

Israel strikes rocket launchers at border crossing

An Israeli airstrike overnight destroyed a pair of rocket launchers in Rafah that were aimed at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, the Israel Defence Forces said on Sunday. In the past week, 2,000 trucks delivering aid entered Gaza, including through the Kerem Shalom crossing, located near the convergence of the Israeli, Gaza and Egyptian borders. Kerem Shalom has taken on new importance since Cairo closed its side of the Rafah border crossing after Israeli forces took control of the Palestinian side of the crossing on May 7. Undelivered food piling up on the Egyptian side has been rotting.

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