Gaza: Israeli strikes on Friday morning resulted in the deaths of nine Palestinians and injuries to others in Khan Younes and Rafah, located in the southern region of the Gaza Strip, according to WAFA correspondents. The strikes have intensified the ongoing conflict and have added to the already significant casualties in the area.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency - WAFA, an Israeli combat drone targeted a charging point for cell phones between tents housing displaced individuals to the west of Khan Younes. This attack claimed the lives of four people and caused injuries to others. Additionally, Israeli forces opened fire at an aid distribution center to the west of Rafah, resulting in four more deaths. In a separate incident, rescue teams recovered the body of a Palestinian from the rubble after an Israeli bombing targeted Abasan al-Kabira town, east of Khan Younes.
Israel unilaterally ended the Gaza ceasefire agreement and resumed its operations on the Strip on Tuesday, March 18, launching a series of airstrikes that have killed hundreds of Palestinians, including over 100 children. The death toll has reached at least 4,402, with 13,489 others injured, according to medical sources. Emergency teams continue their efforts to recover those trapped beneath the rubble.
In the past 24 hours alone, 70 bodies, including three from the rubble, and 189 casualties have been admitted to hospitals in the Strip. These figures do not account for fatalities and injuries in the northern Strip, which remains inaccessible.
The renewed aggression has exacerbated concerns regarding the worsening humanitarian situation in the Strip, exacerbated by the ongoing siege and restrictions on medical and humanitarian aid. Since October 2023, Israel's military operations have resulted in at least 54,677 Palestinian deaths, predominantly among women and children, and injuries to 125,530 others.
Furthermore, at least 10,000 individuals remain unaccounted for, feared dead under the debris of their homes across the Strip. The conflict has also led to the displacement of nearly two million people from the Gaza Strip, with most seeking refuge in the overcrowded city of Rafah near the Egyptian border, marking Palestine's largest mass displacement since the 1948 Nakba.
