While Washington sent an envoy to call on its ally to take more caution against civilian fatalities in its fight against Hamas terrorists, Israel struck the Gaza Strip on Thursday, murdering families in their homes.
With no end in sight, the more than two-month-long conflict is currently raging over the whole Palestinian enclave and generating a humanitarian catastrophe.
“It will require a long period of time – it will last more than several months – but we will win and we will destroy them,” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told visiting White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
In Rafah, jammed with people in makeshift tents on Gaza’s southern edge, people wept at a morgue where bodies of those killed in the latest strikes were wrapped in bloodied shrouds. Some were small children.
The adjacent homes of the Abu Dhbaa and Ashour families were obliterated and residents picked forlornly through rubble. Gaza health authorities said 26 people had been killed there.
Neighbour Fadel Shabaan had rushed to the area after the bombing.
“It was difficult because of the dust and people’s screams. We went there and we saw our neighbour who had ten martyrs. This is a safe camp, there is nothing here, the children play soccer in the street,” he said.
Israel has brushed off calls for a ceasefire, including a resolution at the U.N. Security Council blocked by a U.S. veto last week and another that passed overwhelmingly in the General Assembly this week.
