Israeli warplanes pounded the southern Gaza City of Rafah early Monday, as tanks stationed to the north sprayed the area with heavy machine-gun fire—marking yet another deadly escalation in Israel’s ongoing assault on the besieged Palestinian enclave.
The latest barrage sparked widespread panic across Rafah. Simultaneously, Israeli artillery shelled the eastern edge of Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, while occupation forces opened fire on the telecommunications building near Abu Hamid roundabout in Khan Younis, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.
In Gaza City, civil defense teams pulled 14 bodies from beneath the rubble of the Salem family home, which was flattened in a previous Israeli airstrike. Rescue workers described the scene as “extremely difficult,” citing harsh conditions and a severe shortage of equipment as they continued their efforts to retrieve victims for burial with dignity.
Health officials have also reported a sharp rise in infectious diseases, particularly respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses among children, as overcrowded displacement shelters and collapsing infrastructure push hospitals to the brink. WAFA cited medical sources saying patient numbers now exceed hospital bed capacity by over 400%.
The International Committee of the Red Cross called for “urgent humanitarian intervention,” warning that worsening winter weather is deepening the suffering of displaced families and compounding the territory’s health crisis.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said the Israeli genocide has now killed 70,665 Palestinians, the vast majority of them women and children. Another 171,145 people have been injured, with an unknown number still buried beneath the rubble.
Despite a ceasefire agreement that was due to take effect on October 10, Israeli forces have continued near-daily airstrikes on residential areas and displacement camps. Officials in Tel Aviv have continued to refuse to implement the next phase of the agreement unless Hamas the body of the last Israeli prisoner of war, Officer Ran Gvili.
On Sunday, Hamas announced that Israeli forces had assassinated Raed Saad, a senior commander in the Qassam Brigades. In a separate incident, gunmen shot Ahmad Zamzam, a senior officer in Hamas’s internal security service, in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp.
