with AAP
A six-year-old girl who went missing in Gaza City last month has been found dead according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), along with several of her relatives and two paramedics who tried to save her, after they appear to have come under fire from Israeli tanks.
On Janaury 29, six-year-old Hind Rajab made a telephone call to emergency aid services after her family's car had come under fire.
"I'm so scared, please come. They are shooting at us. The tank is next to me," were some of her final words.
The phone call lasted approximately three hours. It is believed Rajab was trapped in the vehicle with six deceased family members, hiding from Israeli forces among the bodies of her relatives. Rajab was fleeing the city in a car with her aunt, uncle and three cousins.
Emergency aid services then lost contact with an ambulance that was dispatched to Rajab's aid. Before the phone line with Rajab cut out, the sound of more gunfire could be heard.
Paramedics from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society managed this week to reach the area, which had previously been closed off as an active combat zone. They found Rajab and her family deceased, as well as two rescuers who had been in the ambulance coming to provide aid.
The Israeli military is yet to comment.
Two Israeli hostages freed.
Israel launched a special forces operation that freed two Israeli hostages in Rafah amid air strikes.
The operation early on Monday freed Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70, the Israeli military said.
The two men, who were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, were in good condition and taken to a hospital in Tel Aviv, where they were undergoing tests. The men, who are dual citizens of Israel and Argentina, cried and embraced family members at the hospital, according to video released by the Israeli military.
Har appeared pale and "a little in shock", his son-in-law told Israel's public broadcaster after visiting him.
L to R: Fernando Simon Marman and Louis Har. Image: Supplied/Bring Them Home.
"It was a very complex operation," Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht said. "We've been working a long time on this operation. We were waiting for the right conditions."
The hostages were being held on the second floor of a building that was breached with an explosive charge during the raid, which saw heavy exchanges of gunfire with surrounding buildings, Hecht said.
At the same time, an air strike was carried out "to allow the forces to be extracted".
According to Israel, 253 Israelis and foreigners were kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October. Of those taken, 130 remain unaccounted for, including two children.
Washington welcomed the hostages being freed, but said it was pushing Israel for a ceasefire and increased aid for Gaza.
US and Australia calls for Rafah bombing to end.
There are concerns from world leaders and aid agencies that Israel is planning to launch a full-blown attack on Rafah, a small city in southern Gaza where 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering.
Amid the operation to rescue the two Israeli hostages, people in Rafah said two mosques and several residential buildings were hit in more than an hour of strikes, which also ripped through tents where people had taken shelter. Wounded children lay waiting for treatment in the Kuwait hospital in Rafah.
Israel said many of those killed are militants. The Hamas-run Gaza ministry says 70 per cent are civilians.
Hamas said a further three hostages injured in recent Israeli airstrikes had now died, adding the fate of other wounded hostages was not yet clear.
US President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday that Israel should not launch a military operation in Rafah without a credible plan to ensure the safety of the more than one million people sheltering there, the White House said.
Aid agencies say an assault on Rafah would be catastrophic. It is the last relatively safe place in an enclave devastated by Israel's military offensive. Egypt, who has played a large role in trying to broker a permanent ceasefire, warned of "dire consequences" of a potential Israeli military assault on Rafah.
Australia has also expressed serious concerns, joining other world leaders in warning Israel has a responsibility to care for innocent civilians.
"This is a place where people who have been displaced from their homes, often because their homes don't exist anymore, have been told to go to be safe," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
"I unequivocally oppose the terrorist acts that occurred on October 7 but we cannot have disregard for innocent life and I'm very concerned at the consequences for those civilians."
The Rafah assault is the latest escalation in Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the October 7th massacre of Israeli citizens.
Feature Image: Supplied family.
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