Israeli Airstrike in Rafah Kills 10, Including Six Children, as Fears of Invasion Grow

Earlier this week, reports surfaced that the US warned Israel against an attack in Rafah, the southernmost city of Gaza where 1.5 million Palestinians have fled as Israel heavily bombed every other region.

Fears that Israel still plans to invade the last remaining refuge for Palestinians displaced from Israel’s bombardment and invasion of Gaza, are growing after an Israeli airstrike on the city reportedly killed 10 people on Friday, mostly women and children.

“This is a world devoid of all human values and morals,” Ahmed Barhoum told The Associated Press, who lost his wife, and five-year-old daughter, as well as his sister, brother-in-law and their three children in the bombing.

“They bombed a house full of displaced people, women and children. The only martyrs were women and children.”

The attack came after Israeli drones were reportedly shot down over Iran early Friday morning, seemingly in response to an Iranian attack earlier this week that was itself a response to an Israeli attack on Iran’s consulate in Syria’s capital city Damascus.

Shortly after Iran’s missile and drone attack, Israeli minister Benny Gantz vowed to “exact the price” from Iran “in the fashion and timing” that is right for Israel. It is unclear if that attack was intended to do that.

“It's very, very weird. I do have some suspicions and I saw some things about that on it, that looked to me that maybe this is a fake out [and Israel is] only going to come back later after Rafah is all over,” Jim Kavanagh, independent journalist and editor of The Polemicist told Sputnik’s The Critical Hour on Friday.

“It's very confusing to me. What it means is that we have to [put the attention back on] what's going on in Gaza, which is a disaster that's still going on, and nobody's stopping the horror.”

On Saturday, Al Jazeera reported that the Israeli military has continued to attack the city, with one reporter saying “There has been no let-up in the fighting.”

It is also possible that Israel wants to move the domestic public's attention away from their seemingly failed attack on Iran.

"As long as [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] finds a way to continue spilling blood that isn't necessarily Israel's, he can stay in power, and that's where this whole thing is kind of heading right now. It's how long are people going to put up with it," Steve Poikonen told Sputnik's The Critical Hour.

Despite public US protests against a Rafah invasion, Israel continues to promise to invade the southern city. According to war monitors, US and Israeli officials held a “high-level virtual meeting” on Thursday about a possible Israeli military operation in Rafah. Previously, the US demanded that Israel develop a plan to evacuate civilians from the area and the reports say Israel did offer a plan on April 1, but it failed to include plans to provide food, water and other services to the civilians.

On Saturday, the US House of Representatives passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill that includes $26 billion in aid for Israel.