Israeli bombing in Rafah kills at least 25 Palestinians, injures 50 others

At least 25 Palestinians were killed on Friday by gunfire and shells from Israeli tanks in the Al-Mawasi area, west of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, according to local health authorities.

The authorities said in a statement that 50 others were wounded in the Israeli attacks on tents for displaced people, and all victims were transferred to the hospital.

Meanwhile, Palestinian security sources reported that two Israeli tanks fired dozens of shells in the Shakoush area, also west of Rafah, and one of the tanks fired a shell at displaced people, resulting in casualties.

Witnesses whose relatives died in one of the bombardments near a Red Cross field hospital told the AP news agency that Israeli forces fired a second volley that killed people who came out of their tents.

The locations of the attacks provided by the Civil Defense appear to be just outside an Israeli-designated safe zone on Gaza's Mediterranean coast. The Israeli military said the episode was under review but that "there is no indication that a strike was carried out by the IDF" inside the safe zone.

Israel is pushing ahead with a military operation in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from fighting elsewhere in Gaza. Most have now fled Rafah, but the United Nations says no place in Gaza is safe and that humanitarian conditions are dire as families shelter in tents and cramped apartments.

Acute food shortages in northern Gaza are driving up the number of children suffering from malnutrition, the head of a major hospital said Friday, adding that his staff has treated some 250 malnourished kids so far. Palestinians face widespread hunger as the war has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and basic goods to Gaza, which is now totally dependent on aid.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that "total lawlessness" and "chaos" in Gaza are preventing the distribution of desperately needed humanitarian aid within the enclave, which is why an immediate ceasefire is needed.

Guterres told reporters on Friday that "most of the trucks with humanitarian aid inside Gaza are now looted because this is a war that is different from any other one."

"We have attacks, we have bombings, and then troops move to other places," he said. "Hamas returns to the original ones and there is total chaos in Gaza, and there is no authority in most of the territory." He added that "Israel does not even allow the so-called blue police to escort our convoys because it's local police linked to the local administration, so lawlessness is total."

The UN chief also stressed that those obstacles pose "extreme difficulty" to distribute aid.

"There must be a mechanism, guarantee that there is a minimum of law and order that allows for that (aid) distribution to take place and that's why a ceasefire is so necessary," he said.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said later the UN humanitarian office reports that "the breakdown of public order and safety is increasingly endangering humanitarian workers and operations."

Guterres on Friday also voiced "profound concern" over escalating violence and "bellicose rhetoric" between Israel and Hezbollah militants across the frontier with Lebanon.

Speaking to the press at the UN headquarters in New York, the UN chief warned that one false move could trigger a catastrophe for the whole region and beyond.

"One rash move, one miscalculation, could trigger a catastrophe that goes far beyond the border, and frankly, beyond imagination," he said.

He underscored that a widening of the conflict in the Middle East must be avoided.

"Let's be clear: The people of the region and the people of the world cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza," he stressed.

The UN chief noted that on both sides of the Blue Line, a demarcation line set by the UN in 2000 between Lebanon and Israel, many people have already lost their lives, and tens of thousands of people have been driven from their homes, with their livelihoods destroyed.

He urged both sides to urgently recommit to the full implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1701 and immediately return to a cessation of hostilities.

(With input from agencies)