An Israeli airstrike has hit one of the largest residential towers in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, displacing dozens of Palestinian families, as the occupying regime continues its relentless war on the besieged enclave.
The 12-floor building, located some 500 meters from the border with Egypt, was destroyed in the strike on Saturday, residents said.
Preliminary reports said there were several injuries in the attack on Rafah’s Burj al-Masri building.
One of the tower’s 300 residents said Israel gave them a 30-minute warning to flee the building at night.
“People were startled, running down the stairs, some fell, it was chaos. People left their belongings and money,” said Mohammad al-Nabrees, adding that among those who tripped down the stairs during the panicked evacuation was a friend’s pregnant wife.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the incident.
Rafah, the town along the Egyptian border, which was once deemed a “safe zone” by the Israeli military forces, has now become the last refuge for over half of Gaza’s entire population of more than 2.3 million, who have fled their homes in other parts of the territory to shelter from incessant Israeli attacks.
The Israeli regime has repeatedly pummeled the area with numerous airstrikes, killing scores more of the Palestinians trapped in Gaza, already suffering from acute shortages of food and water.
The latest attack comes as talks for securing a ceasefire by the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Gaza have stalled.
Israel waged its genocidal war on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed 30,878 Palestinians and injured 72,402 others.
The Tel Aviv regime has also imposed a “complete siege” on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.
