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FOUND: Survivors worked hard to rescue Mariam Abu Akel, who was trapped under rubble after a rocket attack here. Photo: ARAFAT BARBAKH / REUTERS / NTB
Toddler Mariam Abu Akel was rescued from the ruins after an Israeli airstrike on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. The mother was killed in the attack.
Published:
December 29th
Updated December 29th
Mariam’s skin was gray from the dust that covered her.
She made quiet noises as rescue workers in orange vests reached deep into the rubble to pull the little girl out.
With Mariam in his arms, the rescue worker ran down the street to the hospital where she was admitted for treatment, writes the Reuters news agency.
SURVIVOR: Mariam Abu Akel and her brother Hamed are receiving treatment after the attack. Photo: ARAFAT BARBAKH / REUTERS / NTB
According to spokesman Ashraf al-Qedra at the Ministry of Health in Gaza, at least 20 people were killed and 55 injured in the attack in Rafah on Thursday evening.
Mariam’s mother and sister were killed in the attack. Her father and her brother Hamed, who is still a small child, survived the explosion, writes Reuters.
People gathered around the house where the family had sought refuge after fleeing their own home in a vulnerable area near the border with Israel. Other displaced people were also accommodated in the same house in Rafah.
LETER: Palestinians survey the destruction after an Israeli attack on Rafah. Photo: Fatima Shbair / AP / NTB
The United Nations estimates that at least 100,000 people have fled to Rafah in recent days after Israel stepped up attacks on Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah and ordered people to flee.
Not everyone can find space in the crowded camps in the city and many have set up tents along the road.
– People use all available places where they build sheds. Some sleep in their cars, others sleep outside in the open, said Juliette Touma, communications director for UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.
DISPLACED PEOPLE: Children among the many thousands of Palestinians who recently fled to Rafah. Photo: HATEM ALI / AP / NTB
According to the UN, a total of 1.9 million Palestinians are displaced in the Gaza Strip. They were forced to leave their homes due to Israel’s bombardment and ground offensive following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
Much of the northern Gaza Strip was razed to the ground. Israel is now increasingly directing its attacks further south, towards the refugee camps of Bureij, Nuseirat and Maghazi.
The Israelis said the goal was to dismantle Hamas, which rules the Palestinian enclave. According to Gaza health authorities, over 21,500 Palestinians have been killed so far.
Many of those killed are children.
Published:
Published: 12/29/23 at 4:23 p.m
Updated: 12/29/23 at 4:51 p.m
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