ISRAELI attacks on Gaza have killed three Palestinians and wounded several others in the southern governorate of Rafah, as Hamas officials visited Cairo to discuss the future of ceasefire agreement and Israel confirmed it would send a delegation to Qatar.
On Saturday morning, an Israeli drone targeted a group of people east of Rafah city, killing two Palestinians. Al Jazeera correspondents on the ground reported that one person was also killed by Israeli fire in at-Tannour, also east of Rafah.
Since Friday night, Rafah has been the target of intense Israeli attacks from tanks and drones with shelling impacting residential areas, including al-Jnaina, ash-Shawka and Tal as-Sultan, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, at least 48,453 Palestinians have been killed and 111,860 wounded by Israeli attacks since October 7, 2023.
At the same time, the head of the enclave’s Government Media Office reported on Saturday in marking International Women’s Day that 12,316 women have been killed throughout the war.
“Women’s Day coincides with the continuation of the Israeli siege and the prevention of aid as women live in catastrophic humanitarian conditions and suffer from starvation and thirst,” Salama Maarouf said.
At least 2,000 women and girls have been permanently disabled due to amputations, according to government data.
Civilians in Gaza are also continuing to struggle with a dire humanitarian crisis exacerbated by Israel’s decision last week to block aid deliveries into Gaza until Hamas accepted its terms for an extension of a ceasefire that had largely halted more than 15 months of fighting.
On Saturday, a Hamas statement said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government was “committing the war crime of collective punishment against over two million Palestinian civilians through starvation and the deprivation of basic life necessities for the seventh consecutive day”.
“The repercussions of such crime extend beyond our people in Gaza to include the occupation’s prisoners [captives] held by the resistance, who are also affected by the lack of food, medicine and healthcare,” it added.
