A further 18 people have been killed in fresh Israeli attacks in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, a spokesman for the territory’s Hamas-run health authority said on Tuesday.
The victims reportedly died overnight. The information could not be independently verified.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Tuesday that troops were still being deployed around Rafah. Soldiers carried out “precise operations” near the border to Egypt on the basis of intelligence information about terrorist targets, the IDF stated.
“The troops are fighting battles with terrorists and identifying tunnel entrances, weapons and other terrorist infrastructure in the area,” the IDF added.
The IDF also said that it was endeavouring to prevent harm to innocent bystanders, two days after an Israeli airstrike in the area reportedly killed dozens.
The Hamas-run health authority said at least 45 people were killed and dozens injured on Sunday in the Israeli strike on a camp for displaced people, sparking international horror and outrage.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said Israel was investigating “an incident.” The IDF had earlier said two senior officials of the Palestinian militant group Hamas were killed in the airstrike.
According to the Hamas-run health authority, at least 36,096 people have been killed and more than 81,000 injured since the beginning of the current conflict in Gaza, which was triggered by the October 7 attacks by Hamas.
Source Agencies
