Israel deepens invasion of Rafah, hits UNRWA aid center in Gaza City

Israeli tanks pushed further into the Mawasi camp for displaced Palestinians in the northwest of the southern Gaza city of Rafah after killing dozens of civilians in the besieged strip over the past 24 hours.

Israeli tanks advanced to the edge of the Mawasi on Sunday, triggeirng fierce fighting with Palestinian resistance fighters.

"The fighting with the resistance has been intense. The occupation forces are overlooking the Mawasi area now, which forced families there to head for Khan Younis," media outlets quoted one resident as saying.

Residents said Israeli tanks had pushed deeper into western and northern Rafah in recent days, blowing up dozens of houses.

The armed wings of the Hamas resistance group and the Islamic Jihad movement said their fighters had attacked Israeli forces in Rafah with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs and pre-planted explosive devices.

The Israeli army continues its deadly strikes on the Gaza Strip, killing more Palestinians in the besieged territory.

At least eight Palestinians were killed on Sunday in an Israeli airstrike on a training college near Gaza City being used to distribute aid.

The strike hit part of a vocational college run by the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA now providing aid to displaced families.

"Some people were coming to receive coupons and others had been displaced from their houses and they were sheltering here. Some were filling up water, others were receiving coupons, and suddenly we heard something falling. We ran away, those who were carrying water let it spill," said Mohammed Tafesh, one of the witnesses.

"We pulled out martyrs [from beneath the rubble], one who used to sell cold drinks and another who used to sell pastries and others who distributed or received coupons," Tafesh said. "There are about four or five martyrs and 10 injured."

Israel bombed 69% of schools sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza: UNRWA

UNRWA says Israel has targeted 69 percent of school buildings used as shelters for displaced people in Gaza.

Elsewhere, at least eight civilians were killed in an attack on a residential building in Gaza City while two others lost their lives in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza

One Israeli strike on houses in al-Shat refugee camps killed 24 people. Another 18 Palestinians were killed in a strike on houses in the al-Tuffah neighborhood.

The Israeli military said it had struck dozens of targets throughout the besieged strip.

Hamas said the attacks targeted the civilian population and vowed in a statement "the occupation and its Nazi leaders will pay the price for their violations against our people."

Footage obtained by media outlets showed wrecked homes, blasted walls, and debris and dust filling the street in the Shati refugee camp. It also showed dozens of Palestinians rushing out to search for victims amid the destroyed houses.

Israel's raids on refugee camps, houses kill over 100 in 24 hours in Gaza

One airstrike on tents in al-Shati refugee camp claimed the lives of 24 people on Saturday.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Sunday said that he is “dismayed” by reports from the United Nations’ World Food Programme and the World Health Organization that humanitarian access into the besieged territory is still hindered.

In a post on X, he added: “In the West Bank an economic collapse is looming and violence intensifying. Blatant disregard for ICJ rulings and UNSCR 2735 continues. No improvement on humanitarian access and delivery.”

In another development, in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, health officials at Kamal Adwan Hospital said a baby had died of malnutrition.

UN reports ‘unprecedented scale’ of violations against children in Gaza, West Bank in 2023

More grave violations against children were committed in Gaza and the occupied West Bank than anywhere else in the world last year, according to a UN report.

Palestinian children are the main victims of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. More than 16,000 children have reportedly been killed during months-long Israeli aggression.  There are no safe spaces for Palestinians.

Israel’s genocidal war has claimed the lives of nearly 37,600 people and wounded over 86,000 Palestinians since October.

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