25 dead in Israeli strikes on Rafah homes, 10 killed in Jabalia
Firefighters and civilians gather at the rubble of a building following Israeli bombardment in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Palestine, Dec. 18, 2023. (AFP Photo)


At least 35 people were killed and dozens of others injured in two separate Israeli attacks on Gaza Tuesday.

Some 25 Palestinians were killed and many others injured in overnight airstrikes on southern Gaza's Rafah city, according to Palestinian media and health officials.

In another attack on Tuesday morning, at least 10 people were killed and 40 others wounded in an Israeli strike on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said that a series of Israeli airstrikes targeted three adjacent homes for the families of Zorob, Attiya and Abdel-al killing 25 Palestinian civilians, including a number of children and women.

WAFA reported that journalist Adel Zorob was among the people killed in Rafah city.

Another Israeli airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, also left five dead, including four brothers from the Abu Ghazal family.

A yet unknown number of citizens were also killed and injured in a series of violent raids east and north of Khan Yunis, and in Deir al-Balah, the news agency added.

Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have crammed into Rafah on Gaza's border with Egypt to escape Israeli bombardments further north, despite fears that they will also not be safe there.

Early Tuesday, residents in Khan Younis, a city also in southern Gaza, reported fierce gun battles between Israeli forces and Palestinian resistance groups. Israeli tanks and planes bombed areas near the city center, residents said.

A World Health Organization (WHO) official said Monday that the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza that Israeli troops raided last week is no longer functioning and patients including babies have been evacuated,

"We cannot afford to lose any hospitals," said Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative for Gaza.

Peeperkorn also said about 4,000 displaced people taking refuge on the grounds of the Nasser medical complex in Khan Younis were at risk as Israel pursues military operations there.

The Gazan Health Ministry said Tuesday that at least 19,667 people had been killed, mostly women and children, in Israel's war in the Palestinian territory since Oct. 7.

According to the ministry, 52,586 people in Gaza have been wounded in more than two months of fighting.

Israel's indiscriminate retaliation has increased concern among governments and international organizations over the civilian death toll, hunger and homelessness.

Father-of-four Raed, 45, who has moved his family twice, said Gazans were exhausted trying to stay alive.

"Money has lost its value, most of the items are not available. We rose from our beds after surviving a night of bombardment to tour the streets searching for food, we got tired," he said in the Rafah area. "We want peace, truce, ceasefire, whatever they call it, but please stop the war."