Israeli tank shelling and airstrikes killed 18 people, including four children, in Gaza on Wednesday, Palestinian officials reported, as Israel suspended the passage of patients through the Rafah border crossing to Egypt.
The Israeli military said the strikes, which targeted Gaza City and the southern city of Khan Younis, followed an attack by a gunman who shot at Israeli soldiers, seriously injuring a reservist.
A Gazan health official told Reuters that Israel had also blocked the passage of patients through Rafah, which had reopened just two days earlier, allowing a trickle of Palestinians to cross for the first time in months.
Raja’a Abu Teir, a Palestinian patient who was due to be evacuated, described the disruption at a hospital in Khan Younis: “They called the patients and said today there is no travel at all, the crossing is closed.” Several patients were reportedly waiting in ambulances for treatment.
COGAT, the Israeli agency that controls access to Gaza, stated on Wednesday that Rafah remained open but claimed it had not received the necessary coordination details from the World Health Organization to facilitate patient movement.
Since the start of the ceasefire, Israeli fire has killed at least 530 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to Gaza health authorities.
In the same period, Palestinian militants have killed four Israeli soldiers, according to Israeli officials.
Gaza’s two-year conflict with Israel has killed more than 71,000 Palestinians, displaced the majority of the population, and left much of the territory in ruins, according to Gazan health authorities.
The October 7, 2023, Hamas attack that sparked the war killed around 1,200 people in Israel, Israeli tallies indicate.
