Israel attacks Rafah after Hamas claimed responsibility for the deadly rocket attack

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) – Three Israeli soldiers were killed in a rocket attack claimed by Hamas’ armed wing near the town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Palestinian health authorities said at least 19 people were killed by Israeli fire on Sunday.

Hamas’ armed wing claimed responsibility on Sunday for an attack on the Kerem Shalom border crossing into Gaza that Israel said killed three of its soldiers.

The Israeli military said 10 projectiles were fired from Rafah in southern Gaza into the area of ​​the border crossing, which has now been closed to allow aid trucks into the coastal enclave. Other crossings remained open.

Hamas’ armed wing said it fired rockets at an Israeli army base at the border crossing, but did not confirm where it fired them from. Hamas media quoted a source close to the group as saying the trade crossing was not the goal.

More than a million Palestinians are seeking refuge in Rafah, near the border with Egypt.

Shortly after the Hamas attack, an Israeli airstrike hit a house in Rafah, killing three people and wounding several others, Palestinian medics said.

The Israeli military confirmed the counterattack, saying it hit the launcher from which the Hamas projectiles were fired and a nearby “military structure.”

“The rocket launches carried out by Hamas near the Rafah crossing… are a clear example of the terrorist organization’s systematic exploitation of humanitarian facilities and spaces and its continued use of Gaza civilians as human shields,” it said.

Hamas denies using civilians as human shields.

Shortly before midnight, an Israeli airstrike killed nine Palestinians, including a baby, at another house in Rafah, Gaza health authorities said. They said the new strike raised Sunday’s death toll to at least 19 people.

Israel has vowed to enter the southern Gaza town and drive out Hamas forces there, but has faced increasing pressure to cease fire as the operation could derail fragile humanitarian efforts in Gaza and endanger many more lives .

Sunday’s attack on the border crossing came as hopes of ongoing ceasefire talks in Cairo faded.

The war began after Hamas stunned Israel with a cross-border raid on Oct. 7 that Israeli officials said killed 1,200 people and took 252 hostages.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, more than 34,600 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli attack, 29 of them in the last 24 hours, and more than 77,000 were injured.

(Reporting by Maytaal Angel and Nidal al-Mughrabi. Editing by Bernadette Baum, Alexander Smith, Nick Macfie and Diane Craft)