Israeli airstrikes martyrs 30 Palestinians in Rafah, toll at 34,488
GAZA, Palestine (Reuters) - Israeli airstrikes on three houses in the southern Gaza city of Rafah martyred at least 25 Palestinians and wounded many others, medics said on Monday, as leaders of Hamas arrived in Cairo for a new round of truce talks with Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
In Gaza City, in the north of the Gaza Strip, Israeli warplanes struck two houses, martyring at least four people and wounding several people, health officials said. The strike on the other house martyred two brothers, they added.
The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that at least 34,488 people have been martyred during almost seven months of war. The tally includes at least 34 deaths in the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 77,643 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war broke out when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7.
The strikes on Rafah, where almost half of Gaza's 2.3 million population have sought refuge from months of Israeli bombardment, unfolded hours before Egypt was expected to host leaders of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to discuss prospects for a ceasefire agreement with Israel.
At a Rafah hospital, relatives of those martyred in the Israeli strikes came to take the bodies away for burial. Women and men cried as they paid farewell to the slain relatives wrapped in white and black shrouds.
"His name is Deif-Allah (meaning guest in Arabic) and he was indeed a guest. He came as a guest after (his parents) longed for (him) for so long, after 10 years," said Abu Taha, holding the body of his baby boy, wrapped in a white shroud.
"Ten people (were martyred), the mother, her daughter, her granddaughters, her grandson, her son-in-law, their daughters and relatives, everyone. They're all gone, all 10 of them."
An assault on Rafah, which Israel says is the last Hamas stronghold in the Gaza Strip, has been anticipated for weeks but foreign governments and the United Nations have expressed concern that such action could result in a humanitarian disaster given the number of displaced people crammed into the area.
