Photos of life in war: Palestinians flee south in Gaza, Israel mourns dead soldiers

By NPR Staff

Published January 29, 2024 at 3:34 PM EST

Palestinians look at their neighbor's damaged home following an Israeli strike in Rafah, a city in southern Gaza, on Jan. 27.

Last week, the International Court of Justice called for protective action in Gaza but stopped short of demanding a cease-fire, displaced Palestinian families fled Khan Younis and headed south toward a flooded Rafah, where shelter and resources remain scarce, and Israel saw its deadliest single day during its war with Hamas, with the deaths of 24 Israeli soldiers.

According to the Associated Press, the Gaza's Health Ministry reported on Friday that the death toll among Palestinians in the Gaza Strip has exceeded 26,000. This follows news of U.S. negotiators working on potential agreements in which Israel would pause military operations against Hamas in Gaza for two months in exchange for the release of more than 100 hostages that were taken hostage during the Oct. 7 attack.

Here are some of the daily moments that were documented this past week:

Israeli soldiers prepare and fire mortars from inside Israel into Gaza, backing up troops near the Maghazi refugee camp on Jan. 22.

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive in Gaza walk through a makeshift tent camp in Rafah on Jan. 27.

People mourn as they collect the bodies of friends and relatives killed in an airstrike on Jan. 24.

The family of Israeli soldier Ilay Levy mourns during his funeral at the military cemetery in Tel Aviv on Jan. 23, after he was killed in combat in Gaza during an incident that claimed the lives of nearly two dozen Israeli soldiers.

A picture taken through the window of a building damaged by Israeli bombing shows members of a family standing on a rooftop in Rafah, in southern Gaza, on Jan. 27.

A Palestinian man mourns over the body of a child killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Jan. 22.

A Palestinian family in Rafah watches the U.N.'s top court on TV on announce its initial decision Friday, Jan. 26, in a case accusing Israel of genocide.

Residents and civil defense teams carry out a search and rescue operation around the rubble of the building demolished after an Israeli attack in Deir al Balah, in central Gaza, on Jan. 26.

A unit of Israeli soldiers return to the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip on Jan. 28, after spending months in the Palestinian enclave engaged in battles with Hamas militants as the fighting between the two sides continues.

Israeli musician Shlomi Shaban performs at a concert for Alon Ohel, who was kidnapped by Hamas militants from the Nova music festival on Oct. 7 in Zikim, Israel, near the Gaza border on Jan. 21. The concert, which featured some of Alon's favorite musicians, was organized by his family and broadcast over giant speakers in the hopes that Alon would hear it from wherever he's being held.

Palestinians carry some belongings as they flee Khan Younis to safer areas further south in southern Gaza, through the city's western exit, on the outskirts of its refugee camp, on Jan. 26.

Palestinians displaced by Israel's ground offensive on the Gaza Strip play at the makeshift tent camp in Rafah on Jan. 23.

Israeli soldiers prepare and fire mortars from inside Israel, into Gaza, backing up troops near the Maghazi refugee camp, where three large-scale incidents happened in which nearly two dozen Israeli soldiers were killed on Jan. 22.

Palestinian families flee Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, on Jan. 22.

Palestinians mourn the relatives killed in the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip at a hospital in Deir al Balah on Jan. 26.

Relatives and friends of Israeli soldier Ilay Levy mourn during his funeral at the military cemetery in Tel Aviv on Jan. 23.