The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has condemned the deadly Israeli attack on the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, saying the offensive was a “deepening of genocide” against the people of Palestine.
“The attack by the terrorist enemy army on the city of Rafah is a compounded crime, a deepening of genocide and forced displacement attempts waged against our Palestinian people,” Hamas said in a statement on Monday.
At least 100 civilians, mostly women and children, have been killed and nearly 230 others wounded in Israel’s extensive air raids and artillery strikes on Rafah on Monday. Dozens of people are also trapped under the rubble.
In the statement, Hamas said the “terrorist Netanyahu government and his Nazi army” blatantly disregard the decisions of the International Court of Justice issued two weeks ago, which prescribed urgent measures including stopping any steps that could be considered acts of genocide.
The movement held the US administration of President Joe Biden along with the Tel Aviv regime fully responsible for the massacre in Rafah, saying Washington gave Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu the green light for the strike on Sunday.
The US provides Israel with money, weapons, and political cover to continue the war of genocide and massacres against the Palestinians, it emphasized.
“We call on the League of Arab States, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the United Nations Security Council to take immediate and serious action to stop the Zionist aggression and the ongoing genocide crimes against unarmed civilians in the Gaza Strip,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, the director of Kuwait Hospital in Rafah, Suhaib al-Hams, said the Israeli army used internationally prohibited incendiary missiles in its raids on Rafah, resulting in injuries from amputations, brain injuries, and burns.
“We disbelieve in the world’s democracy, its false freedoms, and its false justice. Its duplicity has been revealed, and its disgrace has been exposed,” he added.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society also said the number of martyrs of the Rafah massacre is likely to rise given the presence of missing persons under the rubble.
It emphasized that there were no sufficient ambulances to rescue the wounded after the bloody night in Rafah.
