Gaza: Father and son, both doctors killed in Israeli air strike

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Sunday that two doctors were killed in an Israeli air strike on the city of Deir al-Balah in a central area of the Palestinian territory.

“The bodies of Doctor Muhammad Nimr Qazaat and his son, Doctor Youssef, were recovered (as they were killed) because of an Israeli raid on the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, and they were transferred to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah,” the agency said in a statement.

The Israeli army did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Witnesses said Israel had carried out strikes in Rafah near the crossing with Egypt on Saturday, and AFP images showed smoke rising over the city.

Israeli troops defied international opposition this week and entered eastern areas of the city, effectively shutting a key aid crossing and suspending traffic through another.

“There is no place left in Gaza that is safe or not overcrowded… There’s nowhere we can go.”

Residents were told to go to the “humanitarian zone” of Al-Mawasi, on the coast northwest of Rafah.

‘Unsafe zones’

International outrage mounted at Israel’s operations in Rafah.

EU chief Charles Michel said on social media that Rafah civilians were being ordered to “unsafe zones”, denouncing it as “unacceptable”.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it had started transferring 22 patients from a field hospital in Rafah, saying Israel’s operations in the city were “making it impossible to provide lifesaving medical assistance”.