More than 60 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said early Monday.
CNN cannot independently verify the numbers.
The city, where more than half of Gaza's population seeks refuge, came under “intense attacks” by warplanes and airstrikes, the PRCS said.
The helicopters also fired machine guns along their border regions, according to the PRCS. Rafah is located near Gaza's border with Egypt.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Monday that it carried out “a series of strikes” against targets in the Shaboura area, a district of Rafah, and said in a statement that “the strikes have concluded.”
According to the Rafah municipality, a mosque in Shaboura was among the targets of the Israeli attacks.
The Hamas-run Al-Aqsa television channel reported that two mosques were attacked on Monday, as well as 14 homes in several areas of Rafah.
The director of Abu Yousef Al-Najjar Hospital said that the medical facilities in Rafah “cannot care for the large number of wounded due to the shelling of the Israeli occupation.”
According to the PRCS, people are trapped under rubble and there is still a strong presence of fighter jets in the skies over Rafah.
Some context: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu downplayed growing criticism over plans for a ground offensive in Rafah, where more than 1.3 million people have taken refuge, many of whom have already been displaced from other parts of the enclave and They say they have nowhere to go.
This post has been updated with confirmation of the IDF attacks on Rafah.
