The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) on Monday condemned the ongoing attacks by Israel on Gaza and occupied Palestine and called for an end to the ongoing “genocide”.

In a statement issued by the IEA’s foreign ministry on Monday morning, the Islamic Emirate said it “strongly condemns the ongoing atrocities of the Zionists and calls for an immediate end to them.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan calls upon international and regional effective governments, Islamic countries and human rights organizations to stop the ongoing genocide in Gaza and occupied Palestine and lead to a fundamental solution to this case.

“continuation of genocide in Gaza has brought serious questions to the ruling international order and its values, and this genocide of the century will further destroy the weak credibility of international organizations and humanitarian conventions,” the foreign ministry said.

The IEA’s statement came after Israel freed two Israeli-Argentinian hostages in Rafah on Monday under the cover of airstrikes which local health officials said killed 67 Palestinians and wounded dozens in the southern Gaza city that is the last refuge of about a million displaced civilians, Reuters reported.

A joint operation by the Israeli military, the domestic Shin Bet security service and the Special Police Unit in Rafah freed Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Hare, 70, the military said.

The two men were kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, the military said, among some 250 people who Israel says were seized during the militant raid that triggered its war on Gaza.

Israel's military said its air strikes had coincided with the raid to allow its forces to be extracted.

The Gaza health ministry said 67 people had been killed and the number could rise as rescue operations were under way. A photograph from the scene showed a vast area of rubble where buildings had been destroyed.

Palestinians in Rafah said two mosques and several houses were hit in more than an hour of strikes by Israeli warplanes, tanks and ships, causing widespread panic among people who had been asleep.

"It was the worst night since we arrived in Rafah last month. Death was so near as shells and missiles landed 200 meters from our tent camp," Emad, a father of six, told Reuters.

Some feared Israel had begun a long-feared ground offensive in the city, where more than a million people displaced by Israel's war on Hamas are sheltering with nowhere else to go.

Hamas said the attack on Rafah was a continuation of a "genocidal war" and forced displacement attempts Israel has waged against the Palestinian people.

Hamas militants killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and abducted at least 250 in their Oct. 7 incursion, according to Israeli tallies. Israel has responded with a military assault on the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 28,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the enclave.

The IEA meanwhile said the attacks on Rafah city “will cause another big disaster and deepen the current crisis.