An Israeli airstrike on a house in the city of Rafah in the far south of the Gaza Strip killed at least nine people, including six children, according to medical sources on Saturday, as Israel continues its nearly seven-month-long attack in the besieged Palestinian territory.

The war launched by Israel against Hamas has escalated tensions in an already troubled Middle East.

The strike late Friday hit a residential building in the western Tal Sultan neighborhood of Rafah, according to Gaza’s civil defense, and hospital records showed that the bodies of the six children, two women, and a man were transported to Abu Yusuf al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah.

In the hospital, relatives wept and embraced the bodies of the children wrapped in white shrouds, while others offered consolation.

Ahmad Barhoum, the brother-in-law of one of the victims, said among those killed were Abd al-Fattah Sobhi Radwan, his wife Najla Ahmed Oweida, and their three children. Barhoum also lost his wife Rawaan Radwan and their five-year-old daughter Alaa.

Barhoum told the Associated Press on Saturday morning, crying as he cradled Alaa’s body gently in his arms: "This is a world devoid of all values and human morals. They bombed a house filled with displaced people and women and children. There were no martyrs except for women and children."

No casualties were reported from the second nighttime strike in the city.

Rafah, which borders Egypt, is currently hosting more than half of Gaza's total population of around 2.3 million, the vast majority of whom have been displaced due to fighting in the northern part of the territory.

Despite calls for restraint from the international community, including Israel's strongest ally, the United States, the Israeli government has insisted for months that it plans to launch a ground assault inside the city, where it claims many remaining Hamas militants are holed up.

No such ground operation has occurred yet, but the Israeli army has repeatedly carried out airstrikes on the city and its surroundings.

The war erupted due to an unprecedented raid on southern Israel carried out by Hamas and other groups on October 7, resulting in the deaths of around 1,200 people, the vast majority of whom were civilians, and witnessing the abduction of around 250 people taken to Gaza. Israel says that about 130 hostages are still in Gaza, despite confirming the deaths of more than 30 of them, either killed on October 7 or dying in captivity.

On Saturday, the Gaza Health Ministry stated that the bodies of 37 people killed in Israeli airstrikes were brought to Gaza hospitals in the past 24 hours, adding that hospitals also received 68 wounded. The ministry said that the latest figures raise the total number of Palestinian fatalities in the war between Israel and Hamas to at least 34,049, and the number of injured to 76,901. Although the health authorities run by Hamas do not differentiate between fighters and civilians in their count, they say that at least two-thirds of them were women and children.

The war has led to escalating regional tensions, resulting in dramatic outbreaks of violence between Israel and its arch-enemy Iran, which has threatened to escalate into full-scale war.

On Friday, both Iran and Israel downplayed the Israeli airstrike near a major airbase and nuclear site in central Iran, indicating both sides’ retreat from what could become a total conflict. Over the past few weeks, an alleged Israeli strike killed two Iranian generals at an Iranian consulate in Syria, followed by unprecedented Iranian missile bombardments on Israel.

Israel is also facing the armed Hezbollah group, an Iranian proxy operating out of Lebanon, where both sides frequently exchange rocket and drone attacks across the Lebanese-Israeli border. Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have also joined the fray, launching strikes against commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in what they say is a show of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Tensions have also flared in the occupied West Bank, where an Israeli military raid on Friday in the Nur Shams refugee camp resulted in the deaths of at least four Palestinians, according to the Israeli army and Palestinian health officials.

Palestinian health authorities reported that one of the victims was a 15-year-old boy killed by Israeli fire. Islamic Jihad confirmed the deaths of three of its members, including a leader it said was a local military commander. The Israeli army stated that four Israeli soldiers were lightly injured in the operation.

Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, stated that its fighters engaged in fierce battles on Saturday morning with Israeli forces in the town of Tulkarem adjacent to Nur Shams. There are no details available at this time. Residents of Tulkarem began a general strike on Saturday in protest of the attack on Nur Shams, with shops, restaurants, and government offices all closing.

The Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, has a limited foothold in many northern towns and cities in the area, including Tulkarem and Jenin. Armed groups, including the Islamic Jihad movement, are active in both cities and often clash with Israeli soldiers during army raids.

Palestinian health officials say that since the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, more than 460 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank. Israel conducts repeated airstrikes on towns and cities in the troubled region. Among the dead were militants, but also stone throwers and bystanders. Some have also been killed in attacks by Israeli settlers.