Fighting gets more intense in Gaza as 26 killed in Rafah

GAZA – Israel pounded the length of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, killing families in their homes even as Washington dispatched an envoy to encourage its ally to be more precise in its war against Hamas.

Reuters reported that two weeks after a truce collapsed, the war had entered an intense phase, with fighting now raging across the entire Palestinian enclave and international organisations warning of a complete humanitarian catastrophe.

In Rafah, jammed with people in makeshift tents on Gaza’s southern edge, women and men wept at the morgue where the bodies of those killed in the latest overnight air strikes were laid out wrapped up in bloodied shrouds. Some were small children.

Gaza health authorities said 26 people had been killed there.

Israel has brushed off calls for a ceasefire, including a resolution at the United Nations Security Council blocked by a U.S. veto last week and another that passed overwhelmingly in the General Assembly this week.

Washington has provided diplomatic cover for its longstanding ally, but expressed increasing alarm over civilian deaths. President Joe Biden went further this week, describing Israeli bombing as “indiscriminate.”

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who would be in Israel on Thursday and Friday, would discuss with the Israelis the need to be more precise with their strikes, spokesperson John Kirby said.

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