4 health workers killed in Israeli attack on Rafah

Gaza: Four employees of the Gaza-based health authorities were killed on Saturday in an Israeli airstrike targeting a warehouse in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, the health authorities said.

In a press statement, the health authorities said that four of its workers died and six others injured in the attack on their warehouse in the Musbah area, north of Rafah.

The statement added that ambulance crews are unable to reach the area to retrieve the bodies of the victims and treat the wounded due to ongoing Israeli shelling, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Israeli army has not commented on the incident.

Israel launched a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on October 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage.

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in Gaza has risen to 41,391, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Saturday.

At least 22 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli attack that hit a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The Palestinian Civil Defence agency in Gaza confirmed that Israel targeted the Zeitoun School in the eastern part of Gaza City on Saturday.

Those killed include 13 children, six women, and a three-month-old baby, the Government Media Office said in a statement, adding that Israel had committed a “horrific massacre”.

At least 30 people were wounded, the Ministry said, including several who suffered severe burns. Two people remain missing.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal noted that thousands of displaced people had sought shelter at the school.

Israel’s military said in a statement the Air Force had “conducted a precise strike on terrorists who were operating inside a Hamas command and control centre in Gaza City”.