Palestinian human rights groups say that Israel has escalated its attacks in Rafah, southern Gaza, where approximately 1.3 million people, the vast majority of them displaced from other areas in the territory, are now concentrated.
Israel has also intensified artillery shelling in the eastern area of Rafah in what Al-Haq, Al Mezan and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights describe as a campaign of intimidation aimed at compelling a new wave of forced displacement ahead of a large-scale military assault on Rafah.
More than 40 Palestinians, including 13 children and 12 women, were killed during intensified Israeli attacks on Rafah between 26 and 29 April, according to the rights groups.
A baby less than a week old was killed when Israeli warplanes targeted a home belonging to the al-Khawaja family in Rafah’s al-Shabura refugee camp. Nine people were killed in the attack, the majority of them Palestinians displaced from the Gaza City area and Deir al-Balah, central Gaza. ….more
