Witnesses say Israeli attack kills eight people at Gaza aid center | World News

Eight Palestinians were killed on Sunday in an Israeli air strike on a training facility near Gaza City used to distribute aid, Palestinian witnesses said, while Israeli tanks continued to advance into the southern town of Rafah.

The strike hit parts of an industrial school run by the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA), which is currently providing aid to displaced families, the witnesses said. UNRWA and the Israeli military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“Some people came to collect vouchers, others had been displaced from their homes and were seeking shelter here. Some were filling up water, others were receiving vouchers, and suddenly we heard something falling. We ran away and those carrying water let it spill,” said Mohammed Tafesh, one of the witnesses.

A Reuters photographer saw a completely destroyed low-rise building and bodies wrapped in blankets lying on the side of the road waiting to be taken away.

also read | Israel bombs Gaza, killing dozens as fighting rages

“We have recovered martyrs from the rubble, one who was selling cold drinks, one who was selling pastries and others who were distributing or receiving vouchers,” said Tafesh. “There are about four or five martyrs and 10 injured. Thank God the condition of the injured is good.”

More than eight months after Israel began its war in the Hamas-administered Palestinian enclave, its advance is focused on the two areas its forces have not yet captured: Rafah at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip and the area around Deir al-Balah in the center.

Residents said Israeli tanks had advanced to the edge of the Mawasi refugee camp in northwest Rafah in heavy fighting with Hamas-led fighters, part of an advance into western and northern Rafah in which they had blown up dozens of homes in recent days.

Images of two Israeli tanks stationed on a hilltop overlooking the coastal region went viral on social media, but Reuters could not independently verify them.

“The fighting with the resistance was fierce. The occupying forces now control the Mawasi area, forcing families there to move to Khan Younis,” a resident who wished to remain anonymous said on a chat app.

The Israeli military said it continued to conduct “intelligence-based targeted operations” in the Rafah area, locating weapons caches and tunnel shafts and killing Palestinian gunmen.

The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad movement said their fighters attacked Israeli forces in Rafah with anti-tank missiles and mortar shells, as well as planted explosive devices.

Another strike killed two people in Nuseirat in central Gaza. On Saturday, Palestinian health officials said at least 40 Palestinians were killed in separate Israeli attacks in

some districts in the north of the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli army said it had attacked Hamas’ military infrastructure. Hamas said the targets were civilians.

In Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, health officials at Kamal Adwan Hospital said a baby had died of malnutrition, bringing the number of children who have died from malnutrition or dehydration since October 7 to at least 30. The figure, health officials said, reflects under-reporting.

The Israeli ground and air offensive in the Gaza Strip was triggered by the incursion of Hamas-led militants into southern Israel on October 7. According to Israeli sources, they killed around 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages.

The offensive has left Gaza in ruins, with Palestinian health authorities saying nearly 37,600 people have been killed and almost the entire population has been left homeless and destitute.