In Southern Gaza, two Israeli airstrikes killed 18 people overnight, including 14 children and three women. According to Palestinian health officials, the first strike killed all three members of a family, including a three-year-old child, while the second strike killed another family of 13 children and two women. The attacks come hours after the U.S. House of Representatives passed 26.3 billion Dollars in aid to Israel, which includes nine billion Dollars in humanitarian assistance for the Gaza Strip.
Israel has been conducting airstrikes almost every day on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents sought refuge. It has also vowed to expand its ground offensive to the city on the border with Egypt despite international calls for restraint. The latest attacks in southern Gaza come as the death toll in the Israel-Hamas conflict has risen to more than 34,000 Palestinians.