The Telegraph
Israel has admitted to striking a tent camp full of displaced Palestinians in Gaza, killing dozens and triggering global condemnation.
Scores died and many more were injured when an Israeli airstrike hit the Tel Al Sultan neighbourhood in western Rafah on Sunday night, causing a blast at the camp and killing many people, local health officials said.
Eyewitnesses told Reuters that tents were ‘melting’ after the bombardment, burning people alive. At least 35 were killed and dozens injured, most of them women and children, a spokesman for the health ministry in Gaza said in the early hours on Monday.
Thousands were taking shelter in Tel Al Sultan having fled from the east of the city where the Israel Defense Forces issued evacuation orders and began a ground offensive earlier this month.
Israel admitted civilian casualties in Rafah but said its forces had ‘aimed at a Hamas compound,’ killing two senior commanders.
‘The strike was carried out against legitimate targets under international law, through the use of precise munitions and on the basis of precise intelligence that indicated Hamas’s use of the area,’ the IDF said in a statement.
‘The IDF is aware of reports indicating that, as a result of the strike and fire that was ignited, several civilians in the area were harmed. The incident is under review.’
According to the IDF, airstrike killed Yassin Rabia, who was responsible for funding and overseeing Hamas operations in the West Bank, and Khaled Nagar, a senior officer in Hamas’s West Bank wing, according to the Israeli military.
Reports and medics on the ground in Rafah reported widespread scenes of death and devastation, with the bodies of many victims charred and barely identifiable from blast impact.
Hisham Mhanna, of the International Red Cross in the occupied Palestinian territories, spoke of overwhelmed hospitals dealing with the injured.
‘A deadly night in Rafah,’ he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. ‘The ICRC field hospital has dealt with an influx of casualties with injuries and burns.’
The UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees said on Monday that it had lost contact with its employees on the ground and could not immediately establish their location.
The EU foreign policy chief called on Israel to adhere to the International Court of Justice ruling that ordered it to stand down in Rafah.
The prime minister of Spain said he would urge his counterparts to pass a joint appeal on Israel to comply with the ruling.
Large numbers of children among those killed and wounded in the Israeli strike
Egypt condemned what it called the ‘deliberate bombardment by Israeli forces of displaced peoples’ tents’. Jordan accused Israel of committing ‘ongoing war crimes’. Qatar said the bombing could hinder a ceasefire and hostage deal. Mediated talks are expected to resume this week.
Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, said he was ‘shocked’ by the scenes from Rafah and that the Israeli offensive must stop.
‘Those scenes, those reports, are horrifying and what makes it worse was this was a safe zone with women and children and families that have already fled a number of times,’ he said.
‘It’s horrifying to see that. I’ve been saying for some time the Rafah offensive should not take place. I was shocked by what I saw overnight – I think any human being would be shocked by what they saw. It’s got to stop.’
Sunday night’s attack was the single biggest loss of life in Rafah since Israel launched an operation there despite overwhelming global calls urging against what many predicted would be a bloodbath.
The US, Israel’s key ally, has spoken out against the Rafah offensive, but in recent days officials indicated that what they had been seeing in Rafah so far was quite limited and did not cross their red lines.
At this point, Israel is just carrying out her “religion”, which is on full display. Israel can launch airstrikes on American cities and the creatures in “our” Congress will say we had it coming.