Landing of the kidnapped helicopter/IDF spokesman
Medical officials in the city of Rafah said today (Monday) that at least 76 people were killed and dozens more were injured during the operation to rescue the abductees Louis Har and Fernando Marman from Hamas captivity.
At the same time as the Shin Bet and IDF forces raided a building in a city in the southern Gaza Strip, the IDF intensively attacked Hamas targets in the city to prevent it from thwarting the operation.
Documents from the scene show the remains of buildings, which were destroyed in the attacks. Residents of the city, where about a million displaced people gather Others in Gaza said that two mosques and several houses were damaged during more than an hour of attacks by planes, ships and tanks, which caused great panic.
"It was the worst night since we arrived in Rafah last month.
Death was so close when shells and rockets landed 200 meters away from our tent camp," said Gazan businessman Emad, a father of six, in a conversation with Reuters. Some residents feared that Israel had begun the ground attack on the city, which causes great concern among the international community and neighboring countries, including bordering Egypt
"Everyone said it was a surprise ground attack
.
My family and I said our last prayers," Emad said. He added that the world must act. "The entire world condemned Israel's plans to invade Rafah.
They destroy the city before they invade it, what is the state of the world now?
Just worried?” he said.
Ruins in the city of Rafah after the operation to free the kidnapped, February 12, 2024/Reuters
Hamas did not comment on the release of the abductees, who are a strategic card for it, but said that the attack on Rafah is the continuation of the "genocidal war" and the forced displacement of the residents of the Gaza Strip.
The terrorist organization, which massacred about 1,200 Israelis on October 7 and kidnapped about 250 people to Gaza, still holds 134 hostages, some of whom are no longer alive.
According to the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, controlled by Hamas, more than 28,000 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of the war.
However, he does not specify how many of them are armed.
In Israel it is said that a significant part of the dead are terrorists, who operate from among the civilian population and endanger it.
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