Rafah
\nThe International Committee of the Red Cross says its offices in Gaza have been damaged by shelling, which killed 22 people who had sought shelter around its compound.
\n\u201cHeavy-calibre projectiles landed within metres of the office and residences of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Friday afternoon,\u201d an ICRC statement said.
\nIt added that all parties had an obligation to take precautions to avoid harm to civilians and humanitarian facilities.
\nAn Israel Defense Forces spokesman told the BBC that initial inquiries suggested there was \u201cno indication\u201d that it had carried out a strike in the area, but added that the incident was \u201cunder review\u201d.
\n\u201cThe strike damaged the structure of the ICRC office, which is surrounded by hundreds of displaced civilians living in tents, including many of our Palestinian colleagues,\u201d the ICRC said.
\n\u201cThis incident caused a mass casualty influx at the nearby Red Cross Field Hospital, with the hospital receiving 22 killed and 45 injured, with reports of additional casualties.\u201d
\nThe ICRC said the \u201cgrave security incident\u201d was one of several in recent days.
\n\u201cWe decry these incidents that put the lives of humanitarians and civilians at risk,\u201d the statement added.
\nThe Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza gave different figures, saying 25 people had been killed and 50 injured in the shelling, which it blamed on Israel.
\nOn Saturday William Schomburg, head of the ICRC office in Rafah, described the scene of Friday\u2019s attack.
\n\u201cThere were many wounded, the scenes were horrific, frankly nothing that I\u2019ve ever seen before,\u201d he told the BBC from Rafah.
\n\u201cWe had an influx of children, women, young men all of whom had been extremely badly injured as a result of these explosions.
\n\u201cWe were able to transfer them to the nearby located Red Cross field hospital where we have dedicated teams working to try and save lives and to meet the needs of civilians during this conflicts, who have consistently lacked access to healthcare\u201d
\nThe Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy the Palestinian armed group in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people – mostly civilians – were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
\nMore than 37,551 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory\u2019s Hamas-run health ministry. Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but it had reportedly identified 14,680 children, women and elderly people among the dead by the end of April.
\nIn another development, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned that spiralling hostilities between Israel and the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah risk triggering a catastrophe for the region and beyond.
\nMr Guterres accused both sides of increasingly warlike rhetoric and called for an immediate de-escalation, saying the world could not afford for Lebanon to become \u201canother Gaza\u201d.
\nThe past months have seen a series of retaliatory cross-border strikes between Israel and Hezbollah. The Iran-backed group says it is fighting Israel to support its ally, Hamas, in Gaza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rafah The International Committee of the Red Cross says its offices in Gaza have been damaged by shelling, which killed 22 people who had sought shelter around its compound. \u201cHeavy-calibre projectiles landed within metres of the office and residences of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Friday afternoon,\u201d an ICRC statement said. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413974,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-413994","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n