GAZA CITY (MaÂ’an) -- An Israeli airstrike killed six Palestinians Thursday evening in southern Gaza, medics said, hours after a series of attacks left seven Israelis dead near Eilat.Gaza medical official Adham Abu Salmiya said the airstrikes targeted a house in Rafah.
A Ma'an correspondent said the home belonged to Popular Resistance Committees official Khaled Shaath, who was killed instantly. His two-year-old son Malek later died of injuries sustained in the strike.
The attacks killed four others in Rafah. Among them were PRC military wing chief Abu Awad Nayrab and PRC operatives Imad Hamad, Abu Jamil Shaath and Khaled Masri, medical officials said.
The PRC confirmed the deaths in a statement posted to its website.
An Israeli military source told Ma'an that operations were underway in southern Gaza following a series of attacks in the south of Israel, whose leadership has blamed Gaza.
Ismail Radwan, a senior Hamas leader, condemned the "massacre in Rafah" and told Ma'an that "this crime wonÂ’t stop the resistance and wonÂ’t stop all Palestinians." He added that Hamas was taking every relevant action following Israel's threats.
Under the beds, boys!
Earlier, the interior ministry in Gaza said Egyptian authorities have closed the Rafah crossing amid the sharp increase in violence in Gaza and southern Israel.