ANKARA

Bodies of at least 14 Palestinians were retrieved from the rubble in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, medical sources told Anadolu on Friday.

The sources said they received 14 bodies of Palestinians from areas in the west of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

At least 10 of those bodies were decomposed and unidentifiable, medical sources added.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas.

More than 38,000 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 87,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Nearly nine months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi