Israel strikes southern Gaza, kills 28 Palestinians

 

Palestinians search for survivors after the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip outside a morgue in Rafah, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)

Israeli forces continued to bombard Gaza on Tuesday, hitting the southern part of the country with airstrikes that killed at least 28 Palestinians.

A strike on a home in Rafah where displaced people were sheltering killed at least 25 people, including a 2-year-old boy and his newborn sister, and another strike killed at least three people, according to Associated Press journalists who saw the bodies arrive at two local hospitals early Tuesday.

Rafah, which is in the southern part of Gaza where Israel has told Palestinians to seek shelter, has been repeatedly bombarded in recent days, as Israel has struck what it says are militant targets across the territory, often killing large numbers of civilians.

The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza claims nearly 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, and 1.9 million displaced, since the start of the war on Oct. 7 — the day Hamas led a terrorist attack on Israel and slaughtered 1,200 Israelis.