Israel says it has launched a 'wave of attacks' on Rafah

The Israeli army said early Monday it had carried out a “wave of attacks” on Rafah, the Gaza city to which more than a million displaced Palestinians have fled.

At around 3 a.m. local time, the military said on Telegram that attacks on “quality targets” were over. Images and videos on social media, which could not immediately be verified, showed injuries and damage to buildings. News media reported deadly attacks on two mosques in Rafah and said people were taken to the city's Kuwait Hospital.

Israel's key allies, including the United States and Britain, have warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to go ahead with a plan to send troops to Rafah. The United Nations has said that Palestinians there are short of food, clean water and medicine, and that a ground attack would risk exacerbating a catastrophe already unfolding.

Mr Netanyahu pledged on Sunday to provide Palestinians with “safe passage” to the northern areas of Gaza before the planned ground invasion, although he gave no details. He said Israel had no choice but to end its attack on Hamas, which the army says is hiding among civilians in Rafah. The UN and aid agencies have said that people in Rafah, many of whom have fled their homes at least once since the war began to escape Israeli attacks, have nowhere else to go.

Yan Zhuang reporting contributed.