Israeli air raid on Rafah kills 14 Palestinians, many of them children

Israeli forces have bombed a residential building in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, according to a witness and media reports, killing at least 14 Palestinians and burying many others under the rubble.

The attack on Saturday evening came hours after an Israeli drone attack on tents housing displaced Palestinians in Rafah left at least 11 people dead.

The latest attack in Rafah reduced a four-storey building in the Al Salam neighbourhood to rubble, according to witnesses.

At least six children were killed and dozens more were wounded, the Wafa news agency reported.

Ahmed Radwan, a rescue worker, said the building struck was housing civilians and included people displaced by Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza.

“We managed to remove several bodies and rescue several wounded people but many more civilians – women and children are still under the rubble,” he told Al Jazeera.

“We have limited and scant resources. As this war enters its sixth month, there is no fuel to operate search and rescue equipment. We need heavy equipment to help rescue women and children from under the rubble but unfortunately, we do not have the ability to do so,” he said.

“We have to use our hands and some light old equipment to rescue victims from under the rubble.”

Wafa also reported air attacks on the southern city of Khan Younis as well as attacks on the Jabalia and Nuseirat refugee camps in the north and central parts of the Gaza Strip.

It said several people were killed and wounded in Jabalia and Nuseirat, but did not provide an exact toll.

The relentless attacks on Gaza came as Israeli forces also launched raids in the occupied West Bank, including in the city of Tulkarem, the towns of Azzun and Jayyous near the city of Qalqilya, and the Al-Arroub refugee camp north of the city of Hebron.

Two men were interrogated and one of them was briefly detained, Wafa reported.

Overall, at least 30,320 Palestinians have been killed and 71,533 wounded since Israel launched its war on Gaza on October 7. Israel’s devastating offensive and blockade of Gaza has laid much of the coastal enclave to waste and left some 2.3 million people on the brink of famine.

Israeli forces on Thursday opened fire on hungry Palestinians trying to reach an aid convoy, killing at least 118 people.

The attack spurred global outrage and led to the United States carrying out airdrops of food aid into Gaza. Jordanian forces also took part in the operation.

Global efforts to end the conflict were continuing, meanwhile, with a senior US official saying a framework for a six-week pause in fighting was in place.

The official told reporters that “the Israelis have more or less accepted it” and that “the onus right now is on Hamas”, the armed group that governs Gaza.

The Reuters news agency, citing two Egyptian security sources, said delegations from Israel and Hamas were expected to arrive in Cairo on Sunday for talks.