At least 26 people have been killed in an Israeli air strike on Rafah in southern Gaza, according to Palestinian officials as international calls grow for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
Footage from the scene shared online and verified by Al Jazeera on Thursday showed local residents trying to extinguish a fire and rescue survivors as black smoke rises from one of the buildings.
Footage from the scene shared online and verified by Al Jazeera on Thursday showed local residents trying to extinguish a fire and rescue survivors as black smoke rises from one of the buildings.
Two adjacent homes belonging to the Abu Dhbaa and Ashour families were obliterated in the attack on the city, where tens of thousands of displaced people have sought shelter since a weeklong truce collapsed in early December.
Displaced people have been sleeping in makeshift shelters and in the streets after evacuating from the north and from other areas of southern Gaza that had previously been deemed safe by the Israeli army.
“It was difficult because of the dust and people’s screams. We went there, and we saw our neighbour who had 10 martyrs,” said Fadel Shabaan, a resident who rushed to the area after the bombing.
“This is a safe [refugee] camp. There is nothing here. The children play football in the street,” he told the news agency Reuters.
Original from www.aljazeera.com