In the southern part of the Gaza Strip, a tragic incident unfolded as Israeli strikes hit Rafah, resulting in the death of 22 people, mostly children. According to health officials' reports, an Israeli airstrike on Saturday night killed Sabreen al-Sakani during labor. Her husband and their four-year-old daughter also perished in the same attack. In a desperate attempt to save their unborn child, medical workers performed an emergency cesarean section at the Kuwaiti hospital. The premature baby girl survived but was left fighting for her life in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of a nearby Emirati hospital.
The Israeli military's offensive against Hamas continued, with Rafah being one of the hardest-hit areas. At least 469 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, and this number includes many children and women. The situation in Rafah is particularly dire as more than half of Gaza's population has sought refuge there from fighting elsewhere.
Meanwhile, tensions between Israel and its ally, the United States, escalated further as the U.S. was on track to approve a billions of dollars aid package for Israel. Israeli leaders criticized this decision and vowed to oppose it due to concerns about potential sanctions against a unit of ultra-Orthodox soldiers in the Israeli military, Netzah Yehuda.
Netzah Yehuda, an infantry battalion founded roughly a quarter of a century ago to incorporate ultra-Orthodox men into the military, has historically been based in the occupied West Bank. Some members of this unit have been linked to abuses against Palestinians. In 2022, an elderly Palestinian-American man was found dead shortly after being detained at a West Bank checkpoint. Investigators claimed that soldiers were forced to restrain him due to his 'aggressive resistance.' However, the family of the deceased has expressed skepticism about this explanation.
As tensions rose between Israel and its allies, Netzah Yehuda was moved out of the West Bank and reassigned to northern Israel. The battalion was later moved to the southern border with Gaza after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack triggered the ongoing war.
Despite these challenges, life in Rafah goes on as survivors bury their dead and try to rebuild their lives amidst the chaos of war.