The Israeli occupation forces killed Monday at least 12 people in a new devastating massacre in Rafah as the war on Gaza persists for 213 days.

More than 12 martyrs, including women and children, were killed in an Israeli air strike on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, which includes a large number of displaced people from various areas, an Al Mayadeen correspondent reported.

The Israeli occupation forces bombed a house belonging to the Qishta family in the al-Tanour neighborhood, east of Rafah, which martyred nine individuals.

The Israeli occupation forces also bombarded a house belonging to the al-Attar family in the Yabna refugee camp. The IOF also bombed a house in the al-Salam neighborhood in the same city.

Numerous civilians were martyred, and others were wounded when the occupation bombed a residential apartment near the al-Samer junction in Gaza City.

Genocide in overdrive

With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declaring that the occupation army will invade Rafah whether an exchange deal with the Palestinian Resistance is reached or not, top world officials and human rights organizations voiced their deep concerns over an anticipated invasion of Rafah, which would tragically worsen the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

On Sunday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that the number of Palestinians killed in the ongoing Israeli genocide in the Strip since October 7 has now reached 34,683, with 78,018 injured as the war marks its 212th day.

Moreover, it noted that thousands of victims of the aggression remain trapped under the rubble and on roads inaccessible to ambulance and civil defense crews, as the occupation continues to prevent rescue teams from reaching them.

UNICEF's global spokesperson James Elder has reported on the many horrors he witnessed in Rafah, warning that a potential invasion would be "catastrophic".

During three visits to the European Hospital's ICU in the city earlier this week, Elder recalled how he observed many youngsters lying on the same bed after a bomb tore their house. Despite the physicians' best attempts, they all died.

He stated how mere weeks earlier, the world was outraged at the killing of seven World Central Kitchen humanitarian aid workers and a week later, a UNICEF van was attacked, as it attempted to deliver much-needed aid.

Elder emphasizes that Rafah would completely implode if attacked. "There is simply nowhere left to go in Gaza," he says, citing the severe shortage of water for drinking and sanitation and the one shared toilet per 850 people.