Israel faced a wave of international condemnation Monday over a strike that Gaza officials said killed 45 people when it set off a fire that ripped through a tent city for displaced Palestinians, Agence France-Presse reported.
Israel said it was looking into the “grave and awful” impact on civilians after the latest mass casualty event during its military campaign, which has continued since October 7.
The army said Sunday evening’s attack in the southern Rafah area had targeted and killed two senior Hamas operatives.
The UN called on Israel to conduct a “thorough and transparent” investigation into the Rafah strike, as the Israeli military said it was launching a probe into civilian deaths.
Outraged by the Israeli strikes that have killed many displaced persons in Rafah.
These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians.
I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) May 27, 2024
“These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians. I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X.
Horrified by news coming out of #Rafah on Israeli strikes killing dozens of displaced persons, including small children. I condemn this in the strongest terms.
There is no safe place in Gaza. These attacks must stop immediately. ICJ orders & IHL must be respected by all parties.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) May 27, 2024
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he was “horrified by news coming out of Rafah on Israeli strikes killing dozens of displaced persons, including small children. I condemn this in the strongest terms.”
“We’re looking into this,” Israeli government spokesman Avi Hyman told a media briefing.
Israel commits a massacre in #Rafah this evening, dropping several 2,000 pound bombs on civilian tents and #UN compounds, murdering dozens of civilians seeking shelter. This was Israel’s response to the @CIJ_ICJ ruling Friday that it must halt its offensive on Rafah. pic.twitter.com/vS1ouUU8Oj
— Husam Zomlot (@hzomlot) May 26, 2024
Israel’s army said its aircraft “struck a Hamas compound in Rafah” and killed Yassin Rabia and Khaled Nagar, both senior officials for the militant group in the occupied West Bank.
Gaza’s civil defense agency said the strike set off a fire that tore through a displacement center in northwestern Rafah near a facility of the UN agency for Palestinians, UNRWA.
“We saw charred bodies and dismembered limbs. … We also saw cases of amputations, wounded children, women and the elderly,” said agency official Mohammad al-Mughayyir.
“We had just done with the evening prayers,” recalled one survivor, a woman who declined to be named. “Our children were asleep.
“Suddenly we heard a loud sound and there was fire all around us. The children were screaming.”
Unimaginably horrific scenes in Rafah last night.
An Israeli airstrike hit tents housing displaced Palestinians, slaughtering men, women and children.
Israel's blatant defiance of the International Court of Justice must be met with action – starting with a ban on arms sales.
— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) May 27, 2024
Footage from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society showed chaotic nighttime scenes of paramedics racing to the fiery attack site and evacuating the wounded, including children.
The ICRC said one of its field hospitals was receiving an “influx of casualties seeking care for injuries and burns” and that its teams were “doing their best to save lives.”
Mughayyir said the rescue efforts were hampered by war damage and the impacts of Israel’s siege.
“There is a fuel shortage … there are roads that have been destroyed, which hinders the movement of civil defense vehicles in these targeted areas,” he said.
“There is also a shortage of water to extinguish fires.”
Horrified by the air strike attack on #UNRWA refugee tent camp in Rafah.
Indiscriminately killing civilians, killing children, is against international law and severely violating the @CIJ_ICJ order to stop the Rafah invasion.
We must bring these war crimes to a full stop. https://t.co/THRut2TAL4
— Petra De Sutter (@pdsutter) May 27, 2024
‘Dangerous violation’
Across the region the Israeli attack sparked strong protests from mediators Egypt and Qatar as well as from Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Egypt deplored the “targeting of defenseless civilians” and labeled it part of “a systematic policy aimed at widening the scope of death and destruction in the Gaza Strip to make it uninhabitable.”
Jordan accused Israel of “ongoing war crimes,” and Saudi Arabia condemned “in the strongest terms the continued massacres committed by Israeli occupation forces.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, “We will do everything possible to hold these barbarians and murderers accountable.”
Qatar condemned the Israeli bombing as a “dangerous violation of international law” and voiced “concern that the bombing will complicate ongoing mediation efforts and hinder reaching an agreement for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.”
African Union chair Moussa Faki Mahamat also condemned the attack on X, saying, “Israel continues to violate international law with impunity and in contempt of an ICJ ruling two days ago ordering an end to its military action in Rafah.”
The top world court, the International Court of Justice, on Friday ordered Israel to halt its offensive in Rafah.
‘Justice for the Palestinians’
The Gaza Strip is suffering a humanitarian crisis caused by Israel’s military campaign against Hamas that started October 7.
Hamas’ staged an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 that resulted in the death of roughly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and some 250 people taken hostage.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 36,050 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry, and has devastated the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said Monday that its jets had over the past 24 hours struck and destroyed “over 75 terror targets” across the Gaza Strip.
The United Nations has warned of looming famine in besieged Gaza, where most hospitals are no longer functioning.
On Tuesday Spain, Ireland and Norway are due to formally recognize a Palestinian state — a step so far taken by more than 140 UN members but few Western powers.