RAFAH, Gaza Strip — More than 30 Palestinians, including young children, were killed in Israeli bombardments overnight into Saturday in the Gaza Strip, officials said, while a new U.S. strike against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen heightened fears that the Israel-Hamas war could escalate into a regional conflict.
Fears of a wider conflagration have been palpable since the start of the war, triggered by the deadly Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas and other Gaza militants.
New fronts quickly opened, with Iran-backed groups — Houthi rebels in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria — carrying out a range of attacks. From the start, the U.S. increased its military presence in the region to deter an escalation.
The court was asked by South Africa to issue interim injunctions, including calling for a halt to Israel’s offensive.
In Gaza, where Hamas has put up but stiff resistance to Israel’s blistering air and ground campaign, the war continued unabated.
Following an Israeli airstrike before dawn Saturday, video provided by Gaza’s Civil Defense department showed rescue workers searching through the twisted rubble of a building in Gaza City by flashlight.
Footage showed them carrying a young girl wrapped in blankets with injuries to her face, and at least two other children who appeared dead. A boy, covered in dust, winced as he was loaded into an ambulance.
The attack on the home in the Daraj neighborhood killed at least 20 people, according to Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal.
Another strike late Friday near the southern city of Rafah on the Egyptian border killed at least 13 people, including two children. The bodies of those killed, primarily from a displaced family from central Gaza, were taken to the city’s Abu Youssef al-Najjar hospital where they were seen by an Associated Press reporter.
