ANKARA: Several Palestinians were killed Tuesday in a fresh series of overnight Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip as the Israeli onslaught enters Day 214. The airstrikes on Rafah killed five civilians, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. In another airstrike on al-Sabra neighborhood, southern Gaza City, three more civilians were killed. In western Gaza City, one civilian was killed. Israeli jets also pounded the Jabalia and Beit Hanoun areas in the northern Gaza Strip. Following the Palestinian Hamas group announcement of accepting a Qatari-Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza on Monday, Israel's war cabinet decided to push ahead with an operation in Rafah. The Israeli army issued immediate evacuation orders early Monday for Palestinians in the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah and called on them to move to the town of al-Mawasi in southern Gaza. Rafah is home to more than 1.5 million displaced Palestinians who have taken refuge from the war launched by Israel following the Oct. 7 Hamas attac k that killed nearly 1,200 people. Since then, the Israeli onslaught has killed more than 34,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, besides causing a humanitarian catastrophe. Nearly seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave's population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN. Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians there. Source: Anadolu Agency
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