Children Are the Majority of Rafah Strike Victims
The Story
Israeli airstrikes on Rafah killed 22 people, including 18 children, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to intensify military and political pressure on Hamas in the days ahead.
One strike killed a man, his pregnant wife, and their three year old child, though doctors managed to save the baby, while a second strike killed 17 children and two women from a single extended family.
Netanyahu framed the escalation as the only way to recover hostages and achieve victory, with roughly 100 captives still held after the October 7 attack that killed about 1,200 people in Israel.
The bombardment came as the United States House of Representatives approved a $26 billion aid package that includes about $9 billion in humanitarian assistance for Gaza alongside military support for Israel.
Aid experts warned that Gaza stood on the brink of famine, with the United Nations appealing for an additional $2.8 billion and about 80% of the population displaced.
The strikes underscored the mounting civilian toll in a war that had already killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
One strike killed a man, his pregnant wife, and their three year old child, though doctors managed to save the baby, while a second strike killed 17 children and two women from a single extended family.
Netanyahu framed the escalation as the only way to recover hostages and achieve victory, with roughly 100 captives still held after the October 7 attack that killed about 1,200 people in Israel.
The bombardment came as the United States House of Representatives approved a $26 billion aid package that includes about $9 billion in humanitarian assistance for Gaza alongside military support for Israel.
Aid experts warned that Gaza stood on the brink of famine, with the United Nations appealing for an additional $2.8 billion and about 80% of the population displaced.
The strikes underscored the mounting civilian toll in a war that had already killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
Why It Matters
Overnight strikes on Rafah killed 22 people, 18 of them children, according to health officials in Gaza, among them seventeen children and two women from a single extended family, and a pregnant woman whose baby was delivered alive PBS NewsHour. Gaza's Health Ministry does not separate combatants from civilians in its counts, and Israel's military rarely comments on individual strikes CBC News. Netanyahu pledged more and painful blows on Hamas as the House passed a $26 billion aid package carrying roughly $9 billion for the territory. The Senate passed the package on April 23.
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