AN Israeli air strike on a house in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah killed at least 10 people, including six children, hospital authorities said, as Israel pursues its nearly seven-month offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Funerals were held on Saturday for those killed in the deadly strike on Rafah’s western Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood the night before, according to Gaza’s civil defence.
At al-Najjar Hospital, the site of the area’s main morgue, relatives sobbed and hugged white-shrouded children’s bodies. “Hamza my beloved. Your hair looks so pretty,” a mourning grandmother said.
The fatalities included Abdel-Fattah Sobhi Radwan, his wife Najlaa Ahmed Aweidah and their three children, according to his brother-in-law Ahmed Barhoum. Barhoum lost his wife, Rawan Radwan, and their five-year-old daughter, Alaa.
“This is a world devoid of all human values and morals,” Barhoum told The Associated Press, crying as he gently rocked Alaa’s body.
“They bombed a house full of displaced people, women and children. The only martyrs were women and children.”
The scene of bodies being transferred from al-Najjar Hospital to their final burial was heartbreaking, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said, reporting from Rafah.
“The majority were children, wrapped in white sheets soaked in blood … We spoke to a doctor from the hospital [where the children were brought] who described them as having devastating wounds, soaked in blood,” he said.
“Their burns were so bad that even if they made it to the hospital alive, they would have quickly lost their lives because there’s no way such injuries could be treated right away given the current situation.”
Al Jazeera’s reporters said the Israeli military continued its assault on the city on Saturday. “There has been no let-up in the fighting,” said correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum.
