DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Fresh Israeli strikes on Rafah have killed at least 16 Palestinians, rescuers said Tuesday, as residents reported an escalation of fighting in the southern Gaza city once seen as the territory’s last refuge.
An Israeli raid launched in early May has caused nearly a million people to flee Rafah, most of whom had already been displaced in the war between Israel and Hamas. They now seek refuge in squalid tent camps and other war-torn areas.
The United States and other close allies of Israel have warned against a full-blown offensive on the city, and the Biden administration said it would cross a red line and refused to provide offensive weapons for such an undertaking. On Friday, the International Court of Justice asked Israel to stop its offensive in Rafah, an order it has no power to enforce.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead, saying Israeli forces must enter Rafah to dismantle Hamas and return hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war.
The latest attacks occurred in the same area where Israel attacked what it said was a Hamas compound on Sunday night. That attack sparked a fire at a camp for displaced Palestinians and killed at least 45 people, according to local health officials, sparking global outrage.
Netanyahu called it a “tragic mishap” and the military said it was investigating.
The new overnight attacks killed a total of 16 people in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood in northwest Rafah, according to the Palestinian Civil Defense and the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Israel says it is carrying out limited operations in eastern Rafah along the Gaza-Egypt border. But residents also reported heavy shelling overnight in western areas of Rafah.
“It was a night of horror,” said Abdel-Rahman Abu Ismail, a Palestinian from Gaza City who has taken refuge in Tel al-Sultan since December. He said he heard “constant sounds” of explosions overnight and into Tuesday, with fighter jets and drones flying over the area.
He said it reminded him of the Israeli invasion of his Shijaiyah neighborhood in Gaza City, where Israel launched an intense bombing campaign before sending ground forces in late 2023. “We’ve seen this before,” he said.
Rafah resident Sayed al-Masri said many families have been forced to flee their homes and shelters, with most heading to the busy Muwasi area, where giant tent camps have been set up on a coastline. arid, or to Khan Younis, a southern city that suffered severe damage during months of fighting.
“The situation is getting worse” in Rafah, al-Masri said.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said two medical facilities in Tel al-Sultan are out of service due to heavy shelling nearby. Medical Aid for Palestine, a charity that operates across the territory, said the Tel al-Sultan medical center and the Indonesian field hospital were closed, with doctors, patients and displaced people trapped inside.
Most of Gaza’s hospitals are no longer functioning. Kuwait’s hospital in Rafah closed on Monday after a strike near its entrance killed two health workers.
A World Health Organization spokesman said victims of Sunday’s attack and fire “absolutely overwhelmed” field hospitals in the area, which were already running out of supplies to treat serious burns.
“That requires intensive care, electricity, high-level medical services,” Dr. Margaret Harris told reporters in Geneva. “Increasingly, we are having difficulty even having high-level trained doctors and nurses because they have been displaced.”
The war began when Hamas and other militants swept into southern Israel in a surprise attack on October 7, killing about 1,200 civilians and kidnapping about 250. More than 100 were freed during a week-long ceasefire in November exchange of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. .
Israel responded to the attack with a massive air, land and sea offensive that has killed at least 36,096 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. About 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has been displaced and United Nations officials say parts of the territory are experiencing famine.
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Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed.
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