Rafah, January 19 (RHC)-- In Gaza, at least 16 Palestinians, including many children, have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a home in Rafah, which had been designated by Israel as a so-called safe zone.  The families killed had reportedly come to Rafah for safety after being displaced three times over the past 100 days. 

One relative told Al Jazeera: “They fled their homes in Gaza City to the Bureij refugee camp to Khan Younis, before coming to Rafah because they thought it was safer.” 

The grandmother of the children killed in the Israeli attack spoke outside the bombed-out house.  Um Al Waleed Al Zameli said: “I was in the school when the strike happened at dawn, and I came running.  I found the rubble.  I went to the hospital and found all my grandchildren have been martyred.  All of them are young children.  The oldest one was in second grade, and the rest were even younger.  What have they done wrong?”

Meanwhile, in Gaza City, rescuers raced to a home where Palestinian children were buried under rubble after an Israeli attack.  One rescuer sad: “In this house there’s children.  We’ve been trying to get them out since the morning. With every attempt, airstrikes and rockets fall on us.  Our neighbors from the al-Madbouly family came to help us.  The first two who went in were martyred.  What sin did those children commit to die like that? … The number of those who were inside the house is more than 25 people.  They were all martyred. … The whole house collapsed on them completely, as you can see.  More than one missile hit this area.  This area was shelled by many missiles at the same time.”

In other news from Gaza, Israel has blown up Israa University south of Gaza City.  According to a post on the school’s Facebook page, Israeli troops had seized the campus months ago and had turned it into a military base where Israel interrogated detained Palestinians.