AT LEAST 20 people were killed in Israeli strikes on homes in Rafah overnight yesterday, including nine members of the Abu Taha family.
It was an extremely difficult night in Rafah, where the Israeli military targeted multiple areas and killed five children in three separate houses.
The health ministry in Gaza said the Israeli occupation army committed three massacres in different areas of the Strip, killing at least 34 civilians and injuring 68.
The death toll from the ongoing Israeli bombardments and shooting attacks, which started last October 7th, has now climbed to 34,488, with 77,643 wounded.
Hamas sent a delegation to Cairo for truce talks yesterday, while United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Saudi Arabia before travelling on to Jordan, Israel and Egypt.
US President Biden and Israeli PM Netanyahu spoke on the phone about Israel’s planned Rafah ground offensive, with the White House claiming Biden ‘made his position clear’ to Netanyahu that he is opposed it.
Speaking in Riyadh, UK foreign secretary David Cameron claimed Israel has made a ‘generous’ offer of a sustained 40-day ceasefire in Gaza, in exchange for the release of captives.
‘The current proposal before Hamas includes the release of potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners,’ Cameron claimed.
‘I hope Hamas accepts the proposal in front of them,’ he said, adding that the Hamas leadership ‘and those responsible for the October 7th attack’ need to leave Gaza in order ‘to have a political horizon for a two-state solution’.
Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha categorically rebutted the proposal, denying claims that the second stage of any future truce may see the departure of some Hamas leaders from Gaza to Cairo.
‘Such news is untrue and fabricated and aims to make confusion,’ Taha said. ‘Hamas leaders will remain on their land and with their people in the Gaza Strip. The only one that will leave is the Nazi occupation.’
- Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian has said that China is ‘deeply shocked and strongly condemns the perpetrators of this atrocity’, referring to the discovery of mass graves at the al-Shifa Hospital.
At a news briefing in Beijing, he said: ‘Vast swathes of Gaza are now left in rubble and over a million civilians are struggling in despair on the brink of death.
‘The fact that this is even happening in the 21st century is an outrage to the moral conscience of humanity, and tramples on the most fundamental aspect of international justice.
‘The biggest imperative is to put in place a ceasefire as soon as possible. This is the number one overriding priority in Gaza.’
