Twenty-three people were killed, including six children, in Israeli airstrikes on Rafah overnight, medical officials at hospitals in Rafah said in an updated statement on Tuesday.
The Palestinian Civil Defense earlier said its teams had recovered bodies from several homes struck by Israeli aircraft in Rafah.
Israel has vowed to “exert military pressure on Hamas” in Rafah, and took control of the city’s border crossing with Egypt, after earlier saying the ceasefire terms the Palestinian militant group responded to Monday were “far from” meeting its demands.
CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces regarding the overnight strikes. The IDF said Monday it is “currently conducting targeted strikes against Hamas terror targets in eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.”
Israel has ordered the forced evacuation of people in eastern Rafah as it continues to threaten a full-scale invasion of the city, despite growing international pressure to hold off.