An Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah killed at least nine people, six of them children, hospital authorities said Saturday, as Israel pursued its nearly seven-month offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory.Israel's war against the Islamic militant group Hamas has led to a dramatic escalation of tensions in the Middle East, notably between Israel and Iran in recent weeks. Now attention is returning to Rafah, which hosts more than half of Gaza's population of about 2.3 million, most of them displaced by fighting elsewhere.The strike late Friday hit Rafah's western Tel Sultan neighborhood, according to Gaza's civil defense. At al-Najjar hospital, site of the main morgue, relatives sobbed and hugged white-shrouded children's bodies. "Hamza my beloved. Your hair looks so pretty," a mourning grandmother said.
