Israel launches heavy airstrikes on Rafah

Israel freed two Israeli-Argentinian hostages in Rafah yesterday under the cover of heavy airstrikes which local health officials said killed at least 67 Palestinians and wounded dozens in the southern Gaza city that is the last refuge of about a million displaced civilians.

A joint operation by the Israeli military, the domestic Shin Bet security service and the Special Police Unit in Rafah freed Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Hare, 70, the military said.

• Egypt reinforces its border with Rafah fearing Gaza exodus
• Attack on Rafah continuation of 'genocidal war': Hamas  
• 15 Palestinians killed in air strikes in central Gaza
• Death toll in enclave now 28,340

Israel's military said its air strikes had coincided with the raid to allow its forces to be extracted.

The Gaza health ministry said 67 people had been killed and the number could rise as rescue operations were under way. A photograph from the scene showed a vast area of rubble where buildings had been destroyed.

Palestinians in Rafah said two mosques and several houses were hit in more than an hour of strikes by Israeli warplanes, tanks and ships, causing widespread panic among people who had been asleep.

"It was the worst night since we arrived in Rafah last month. Death was so near as shells and missiles landed 200 meters from our tent camp," said Gaza businessman Emad, a father of six, told Reuters using a chat app.

Some feared Israel had begun a long-feared ground offensive in the city, where more than a million people displaced by Israel's offensive are sheltering with nowhere else to go.

"Everyone said it was a surprise ground attack. My family and I said our last prayers," Emad said.

Hamas said the attack on Rafah was a continuation of a "genocidal war" and forced displacement attempts Israel has waged against the Palestinian people.

Israeli strikes on Gaza killed 28,340 Palestinians and wounded 67,984 since October 7, the health ministry in Gaza said yesterday.

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday that Israel should not start a military operation in Rafah without a credible plan to ensure the safety of the roughly 1 million people sheltering there, the White House said.

Aid agencies say an assault on Rafah would be catastrophic. It is the last relatively safe place in an enclave devastated by Israel's military offensive.

Egypt has reinforced its border with the city, saying it fears Gazans will be pushed across, never to return.

An Israeli official has said people will be evacuated further north but its forces are also active in central Gaza. Palestinian medics said 15 people had been killed in an airstrike in the central town of Deir Al-Balah.

Palestinian father Emad said the world needed to act.

"The whole world condemned Israel's plans to invade Rafah. They are destroying the city before they invade it, how is the world doing now? Only concerned?" he said.

Biden and Netanyahu spoke for about 45 minutes, days after the US leader said Israel's military response in the Gaza Strip had been "over the top" and expressed grave concern over the rising civilian death toll in Gaza.