Rafah airstrike kills at least 4, 10 more feared buried under rubble

Palestinian health officials said an airstrike on an apartment building in the southernmost Gaza city of Rafah has killed at least four people.

An Associated Press reporter saw the bodies arrive at a local hospital. Relatives say another 10 people were still buried under the rubble.

Palestinians could be seen digging through the remains of a pancaked building early Wednesday. Mohammed Dheir, a neighbor, says there were “limbs all over the ground.”

Israel has threatened to expand its ground operation to Rafah, where some 1.4 million people – over half of Gaza’s population – have sought refuge. The military has regularly carried out airstrikes on Rafah since the start of the war.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed across the border on Oct. 7 and attacked several Israeli communities and army bases, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians. They abducted another 250 and dragged them back to Gaza.

In response, Israel launched one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said Wednesday that at least 32,490 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war. It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians but says women and children make up around two-third of those killed.

The Israeli military says it has killed over 13,000 fighters. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants fight in dense, residential areas, but the military rarely comments on individual strikes.