Israeli airstrike that killed dozens in Rafah carried out using type of bomb supplied by US
Footage filmed by Palestinian journalist Alamuddin Sadiq at the scene of the strike appears to indicate which specific munition was used, 1,000 of which were supplied by the US to Israel in 2023.
By Sam Doak,
Footage filmed by Palestinian journalist Alamuddin Sadiq at the scene of the strike appears to indicate which specific munition was used, 1,000 of which were supplied by the US to Israel in 2023.
By Sam Doak,
OSINT producer
Sky News
Wednesday 29 May 2024
On the night of 26 May, an Israeli airstrike hit the neighbourhood of Tel al Sultan in Rafah.
At least 45 people were killed as structures in an area housing displaced Palestinians were set alight, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
Location of the strike
Wednesday 29 May 2024
On the night of 26 May, an Israeli airstrike hit the neighbourhood of Tel al Sultan in Rafah.
At least 45 people were killed as structures in an area housing displaced Palestinians were set alight, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
Location of the strike
Image:Pic: Sky News and Planet Labs PBC
The affected area is less than 200 metres from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency's compound in the north of Rafah.
Geolocated footage and satellite imagery shows the strike destroyed buildings immediately adjacent to a sign identifying Kuwaiti Al-Salam Camp 1.
While it is unclear whether the buildings are part of the camp, Kuwaiti Al-Salam Camp 1 is known to house Palestinians displaced by the ongoing conflict.
Over much of the conflict, the surrounding area has been occupied by tents and sheds housing displaced people. In recent weeks, the number of these structures has decreased as Palestinians fled in advance of Israel's ground offensive in Rafah.
Verifying footage
To build a picture of what happened immediately after the strike, Sky News verified numerous videos and photographs captured by those present.
Image:Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians in Tel al Sultan. Pic: Reuters
A sign and other distinctive features visible in footage recorded in the immediate aftermath allowed it to be matched to a daytime recording from the same scene.
Image:Footage of a man carrying a beheaded child (L) matched with a video of the same scene (R)
Landmarks visible in the daylight made it possible to determine the exact location of the strike, and verify pieces of footage recorded at night in the same place.
The footage ultimately verified by Sky News shows numerous bodies being pulled from the wreckage of destroyed buildings. In one video, a man can be seen carrying the body of a decapitated child.
Satellite imagery captured by Planet Labs PBC on 27 May shows four buildings were destroyed in this strike.
The Israeli account
In a statement given on 28 May, a senior Israeli military official claimed the deaths of civilians were the result of an attempt to kill two senior members of Hamas, and that the site is close to an area used to launch rockets.
According to Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, two 17kg (37lb) munitions were used. Claiming that much of the destruction was caused by a subsequent fire that could not have been solely ignited by munitions of this size, Hagari stated that this was being investigated.
The weaponry used in this strike
The affected area is less than 200 metres from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency's compound in the north of Rafah.
Geolocated footage and satellite imagery shows the strike destroyed buildings immediately adjacent to a sign identifying Kuwaiti Al-Salam Camp 1.
While it is unclear whether the buildings are part of the camp, Kuwaiti Al-Salam Camp 1 is known to house Palestinians displaced by the ongoing conflict.
Over much of the conflict, the surrounding area has been occupied by tents and sheds housing displaced people. In recent weeks, the number of these structures has decreased as Palestinians fled in advance of Israel's ground offensive in Rafah.
Verifying footage
To build a picture of what happened immediately after the strike, Sky News verified numerous videos and photographs captured by those present.
Image:Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians in Tel al Sultan. Pic: ReutersA sign and other distinctive features visible in footage recorded in the immediate aftermath allowed it to be matched to a daytime recording from the same scene.
Image:Footage of a man carrying a beheaded child (L) matched with a video of the same scene (R)Landmarks visible in the daylight made it possible to determine the exact location of the strike, and verify pieces of footage recorded at night in the same place.
The footage ultimately verified by Sky News shows numerous bodies being pulled from the wreckage of destroyed buildings. In one video, a man can be seen carrying the body of a decapitated child.
Satellite imagery captured by Planet Labs PBC on 27 May shows four buildings were destroyed in this strike.
The Israeli account
In a statement given on 28 May, a senior Israeli military official claimed the deaths of civilians were the result of an attempt to kill two senior members of Hamas, and that the site is close to an area used to launch rockets.
According to Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, two 17kg (37lb) munitions were used. Claiming that much of the destruction was caused by a subsequent fire that could not have been solely ignited by munitions of this size, Hagari stated that this was being investigated.
The weaponry used in this strike
Alamuddin Sadiq
Footage filmed by Palestinian journalist Alamuddin Sadiq at the scene of the strike appears to indicate which specific munition was used.
Recorded the day after the strike, the fragments resemble the tail section of a GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB).
According to Rahul Udoshi, a weapons specialist at the defence intelligence company Janes, the fragment "appears to be tail section of GBU-39 SDB (of Israeli Air Force stock)." Noting the similarity, Udoshi pointed out "the screw and cut section next to that", which he described as an "exact match".
Footage filmed by Palestinian journalist Alamuddin Sadiq at the scene of the strike appears to indicate which specific munition was used.
Recorded the day after the strike, the fragments resemble the tail section of a GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB).
According to Rahul Udoshi, a weapons specialist at the defence intelligence company Janes, the fragment "appears to be tail section of GBU-39 SDB (of Israeli Air Force stock)." Noting the similarity, Udoshi pointed out "the screw and cut section next to that", which he described as an "exact match".
Comparison of munition fragments with reference image. Pic: Janes
Reviewing the same image, Chris Cobb-Smith, a former British army artillery officer and director of Chiron Resources, also concluded that it matched a GBU-39 SDB, describing the munition as "an advanced, state-of-the-art weapon".
According to Sipri Arms Transfers Database, Israel received 1,000 of these munitions from the US as recently as 2023. Bloomberg, reporting at the time, states that this delivery was accelerated following the 7 October Hamas attack.
Aerial footage
During his statement, Rear Admiral Hagari shared a video showing the strike filmed from above. Highlighting the specific buildings that were targeted, the video shows that out of the four destroyed, these were the second furthest east and the structure immediately to its west.
Reviewing the same image, Chris Cobb-Smith, a former British army artillery officer and director of Chiron Resources, also concluded that it matched a GBU-39 SDB, describing the munition as "an advanced, state-of-the-art weapon".
According to Sipri Arms Transfers Database, Israel received 1,000 of these munitions from the US as recently as 2023. Bloomberg, reporting at the time, states that this delivery was accelerated following the 7 October Hamas attack.
Aerial footage
During his statement, Rear Admiral Hagari shared a video showing the strike filmed from above. Highlighting the specific buildings that were targeted, the video shows that out of the four destroyed, these were the second furthest east and the structure immediately to its west.
People visible in IDF footage of area targeted. Pic: IDF
On the loss of innocent life, Hagari said "our aerial surveillance was filming prior to the strike in order to minimise civilian harm".
In the footage shared by the Israeli military, Sky News identified four people moving in the immediate vicinity of the targeted building in the seconds before it was hit.
Humanitarian zone
Prior to its ground offensive in Rafah, Israel produced a map marking an evacuation area and humanitarian zone.
On the loss of innocent life, Hagari said "our aerial surveillance was filming prior to the strike in order to minimise civilian harm".
In the footage shared by the Israeli military, Sky News identified four people moving in the immediate vicinity of the targeted building in the seconds before it was hit.
Humanitarian zone
Prior to its ground offensive in Rafah, Israel produced a map marking an evacuation area and humanitarian zone.
Sky News
The area targeted lies between these two zones, in the neighbourhood numbered by the Israeli government as 2372.
The area targeted lies between these two zones, in the neighbourhood numbered by the Israeli government as 2372.
No Safe Zone: Satellite Images show Israel targeting Rafah refugee camps
Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu has described the airstrike that killed dozens of people at Rafah refugee camp as a “tragic mistake”.
Displaced Palestinians inspect their tents destroyed by Israel's bombardment in Rafah city. (AP photo)
Bidisha Saha
New Delhi
The IDF said the attack was conducted based on “prior intelligence” indicating that senior officials of Hamas’ West Bank wing were present at the site.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told parliament on Monday that “something unfortunately went tragically wrong” with the airstrike. “We are investigating the incident and will reach conclusions because this is our policy,” he said.
This is not the first time that Israel has attacked a refugee camp. On May 24, the IDF also bombarded tents and refugee camps near Khan Younis which falls under the ‘humanitarian zone’. Remote sensing data from Planet Labs PBC shows over 800 camps set up in the area.
Planet images from May 18 show plumes of smoke rising from the Jabalia refugee camp. Numerous other structures used as civilian shelters have also been attacked in the past 10 days.
An Israeli airstrike on Al-Shaboura refugee camp in southern Gaza City on May 2 killed two young children and injured several other people, according to the Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza and the Kuwait Hospital in Rafah.
Worsening crisis
More than 85% of the Palestinian territory’s population had sought shelter in Rafah having fled fighting elsewhere, and a million people have been forced to move again since Israel’s ground operation began on May 6. Israeli ground troops have so far probed Rafah’s southern and eastern outskirts, rather than its overcrowded center.
Aid deliveries have slowed to a trickle, with the Rafah and nearby Kerem Shalom crossings effectively blocked. Humanitarian operations in Gaza face severe access restrictions, including the closure of key crossings, denied missions, and delays imposed by Israeli authorities.
According to Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), between May 1 and 20, 183 humanitarian aid missions in Gaza were coordinated with Israeli authorities. Of the 51 missions to northern Gaza, only 37% were facilitated, while the rest were denied access, impeded, or canceled. In southern Gaza, of the 132 missions, only half were facilitated, with the other half denied access, impeded, or canceled.
International censure of Israel’s war against Hamas has grown steadily in tandem with the death toll and humanitarian crisis in the strip. Still, Israeli officials have repeatedly said that a ground operation in Rafah, where it believes Hamas’s leadership and four battalions of fighters are camped out with Israeli hostages, is necessary for “total victory”.
Friday’s order from the ICJ is binding, but not enforceable. Several countries called on Israel to obey the 13-2 majority decision in the wake of the Rafah strike.
International response
Qatar, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas in attempts to secure a ceasefire and the release of hostages, said the Rafah casualties would complicate the protracted negotiations. The Israeli daily Haaretz reported later on Monday that Hamas had decided to pull out of the latest proposed talks over what its senior leadership described as a massacre.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he was "outraged" over Israel's latest attacks. "These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians," he said on X.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the International Court of Justice ruling must be respected.
Over 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive, Gaza's health ministry says. Israel launched the operation after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israeli communities on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs based in the West Bank condemned "the heinous massacre." Egypt also condemned Israel's "deliberate bombing of the tents of displaced people", state media reported, describing it as a blatant violation of international law.
On Monday, the Israeli military said it was investigating reports of an exchange of fire between Israeli and Egyptian soldiers close to the Rafah border crossing with Gaza.
Egypt's military spokesperson said that shooting near the Rafah crossing led to the killing of one person and authorities were investigating.
"On top of the hunger, on top of the starvation, the refusal to allow aid in sufficient volumes, what we witnessed last night is barbaric," Ireland's Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said.
Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu has described the airstrike that killed dozens of people at Rafah refugee camp as a “tragic mistake”.
Displaced Palestinians inspect their tents destroyed by Israel's bombardment in Rafah city. (AP photo)
Bidisha Saha
New Delhi
May 28, 2024
Posted By: Anuja Jha
In ShortIsrael's attack on Rafah continues despite world court's order
Recent attack targeted tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah, killing 45
The attack has drawn global outrage, Israeli PM called it a 'tragic mistake'
Blood, chaos, and screams engulfed Gaza’s southern city of Rafah once again after an Israeli airstrike hit one of its largest camps for displaced Palestinians. The death toll from the bombing in the designated “safe zone” reached 45 on Tuesday. The majority of victims were women and children.
The strike goes against a ruling by the top UN court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which ordered Israeli forces to stop their military offensive in Rafah.
Now India Today has located the site of the recent airstrike at Kuwait Peace Camp. The findings were confirmed by satellite images sourced from Planet Labs PBC which showed smoke billowing from near the camp which lies just about 300 meter north of the IDF-declared humanitarian zone.
In December last year, IDF released a map that labeled the area near the UN facility as a ‘humanitarian zone’. The Kuwait Al-Salem Camp wasn’t set up at that time. The IDF also released a map where they've broken Gaza's area into numbered "blocks". The block where Monday’s strike happened lies in block ‘2372’, while it was previously marked as a safe zone, it's not currently in the humanitarian zone marked by IDF.
Footage of the aftermath shared on social media showed chaotic scenes.
In one video, the lifeless body of a man was seen being dragged by the legs out of the flames. “He’s dead, he’s dead,” a rescuer says before moving on to find others. In another video, a man wept as he held up the headless body of a toddler for the camera. Women shrieked in grief as children peered into the fire. A man with a bloodied face stood in apparent shock, examining his wounds with one hand, as he held an infant with blood-stained clothes in the other arm. One of the bodies pulled out of the fire was charred-stiff.
By Monday morning, the camp was in ruins with small fires still burning. Men and boys gathered around, rummaging through the burned and smoking wreckage for food and their belongings as drones hovered above. One of the structures still standing was a sign that read: “Kuwait Peace Camp 1.”
Children and women living in makeshift tents were among those killed, according to a post on X from UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.
The ICJ ordered Israel to “immediately halt” its military operation in Rafah, and any other action in the city, “which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”
Posted By: Anuja Jha
In ShortIsrael's attack on Rafah continues despite world court's order
Recent attack targeted tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah, killing 45
The attack has drawn global outrage, Israeli PM called it a 'tragic mistake'
Blood, chaos, and screams engulfed Gaza’s southern city of Rafah once again after an Israeli airstrike hit one of its largest camps for displaced Palestinians. The death toll from the bombing in the designated “safe zone” reached 45 on Tuesday. The majority of victims were women and children.
The strike goes against a ruling by the top UN court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which ordered Israeli forces to stop their military offensive in Rafah.
Now India Today has located the site of the recent airstrike at Kuwait Peace Camp. The findings were confirmed by satellite images sourced from Planet Labs PBC which showed smoke billowing from near the camp which lies just about 300 meter north of the IDF-declared humanitarian zone.
In December last year, IDF released a map that labeled the area near the UN facility as a ‘humanitarian zone’. The Kuwait Al-Salem Camp wasn’t set up at that time. The IDF also released a map where they've broken Gaza's area into numbered "blocks". The block where Monday’s strike happened lies in block ‘2372’, while it was previously marked as a safe zone, it's not currently in the humanitarian zone marked by IDF.
Footage of the aftermath shared on social media showed chaotic scenes.
In one video, the lifeless body of a man was seen being dragged by the legs out of the flames. “He’s dead, he’s dead,” a rescuer says before moving on to find others. In another video, a man wept as he held up the headless body of a toddler for the camera. Women shrieked in grief as children peered into the fire. A man with a bloodied face stood in apparent shock, examining his wounds with one hand, as he held an infant with blood-stained clothes in the other arm. One of the bodies pulled out of the fire was charred-stiff.
By Monday morning, the camp was in ruins with small fires still burning. Men and boys gathered around, rummaging through the burned and smoking wreckage for food and their belongings as drones hovered above. One of the structures still standing was a sign that read: “Kuwait Peace Camp 1.”
Children and women living in makeshift tents were among those killed, according to a post on X from UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.
The ICJ ordered Israel to “immediately halt” its military operation in Rafah, and any other action in the city, “which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”
The IDF said the attack was conducted based on “prior intelligence” indicating that senior officials of Hamas’ West Bank wing were present at the site.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told parliament on Monday that “something unfortunately went tragically wrong” with the airstrike. “We are investigating the incident and will reach conclusions because this is our policy,” he said.
This is not the first time that Israel has attacked a refugee camp. On May 24, the IDF also bombarded tents and refugee camps near Khan Younis which falls under the ‘humanitarian zone’. Remote sensing data from Planet Labs PBC shows over 800 camps set up in the area.
Planet images from May 18 show plumes of smoke rising from the Jabalia refugee camp. Numerous other structures used as civilian shelters have also been attacked in the past 10 days.
An Israeli airstrike on Al-Shaboura refugee camp in southern Gaza City on May 2 killed two young children and injured several other people, according to the Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza and the Kuwait Hospital in Rafah.
Worsening crisis
More than 85% of the Palestinian territory’s population had sought shelter in Rafah having fled fighting elsewhere, and a million people have been forced to move again since Israel’s ground operation began on May 6. Israeli ground troops have so far probed Rafah’s southern and eastern outskirts, rather than its overcrowded center.
Aid deliveries have slowed to a trickle, with the Rafah and nearby Kerem Shalom crossings effectively blocked. Humanitarian operations in Gaza face severe access restrictions, including the closure of key crossings, denied missions, and delays imposed by Israeli authorities.
According to Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), between May 1 and 20, 183 humanitarian aid missions in Gaza were coordinated with Israeli authorities. Of the 51 missions to northern Gaza, only 37% were facilitated, while the rest were denied access, impeded, or canceled. In southern Gaza, of the 132 missions, only half were facilitated, with the other half denied access, impeded, or canceled.
International censure of Israel’s war against Hamas has grown steadily in tandem with the death toll and humanitarian crisis in the strip. Still, Israeli officials have repeatedly said that a ground operation in Rafah, where it believes Hamas’s leadership and four battalions of fighters are camped out with Israeli hostages, is necessary for “total victory”.
Friday’s order from the ICJ is binding, but not enforceable. Several countries called on Israel to obey the 13-2 majority decision in the wake of the Rafah strike.
International response
Qatar, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas in attempts to secure a ceasefire and the release of hostages, said the Rafah casualties would complicate the protracted negotiations. The Israeli daily Haaretz reported later on Monday that Hamas had decided to pull out of the latest proposed talks over what its senior leadership described as a massacre.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he was "outraged" over Israel's latest attacks. "These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians," he said on X.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the International Court of Justice ruling must be respected.
Over 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive, Gaza's health ministry says. Israel launched the operation after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israeli communities on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs based in the West Bank condemned "the heinous massacre." Egypt also condemned Israel's "deliberate bombing of the tents of displaced people", state media reported, describing it as a blatant violation of international law.
On Monday, the Israeli military said it was investigating reports of an exchange of fire between Israeli and Egyptian soldiers close to the Rafah border crossing with Gaza.
Egypt's military spokesperson said that shooting near the Rafah crossing led to the killing of one person and authorities were investigating.
"On top of the hunger, on top of the starvation, the refusal to allow aid in sufficient volumes, what we witnessed last night is barbaric," Ireland's Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said.
Biden's blurred red lines under scrutiny after Rafah carnage
Danny KEMP
Tue, May 28, 2024
US President Joe Biden faces growing domestic and international pressure over Rafah (Mandel NGAN)
Joe Biden's red lines over Israel's assault on Rafah have kept shifting, but the US president faces growing pressure to take a firmer stance after a deadly strike in the Gazan city.
Despite global outrage over the attack in which 45 people were killed, the White House insisted on Tuesday that it did not believe Israel had launched the major operation that Biden has warned against.
John Kirby, the US National Security Council spokesman, said that Biden had been consistent and was not "moving the stick" on what defined an all-out military offensive by key ally Israel.
But Biden faces a difficult balancing act both domestically and internationally over Gaza, especially in a year when the 81-year-old Democrat is locked in an election battle with Donald Trump.
"Biden wants to appear tough on Rafah, and has really tried to be stern with (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu, but in an election year, his red lines are increasingly blurred," Colin Clarke, director of research at the Soufan Group, told AFP.
"I think he'll continue shifting those lines, ducking and weaving, largely in response to events on the ground."
- 'Smash into Rafah' -
Facing US campus protests over his support for Israel, Biden said earlier this month that he would not supply Israel with weapons for a major military operation in Rafah, and he halted a shipment of bombs.
Yet he has since taken no action even as Israel has stepped up air attacks and, as of Tuesday, moved tanks into central Rafah.
Instead, the White House has largely retreated to arguing about what does, and does not, constitute an invasion.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said last week there was "no mathematical formula" and said that "what we're going to be looking at is whether there is a lot of death and destruction."
At the White House on Tuesday, his colleague Kirby faced intense questioning over the Israeli strike, which sparked a fire at a displaced persons camp in which dozes of people burned to death.
Kirby said the deaths were "heartbreaking" and "horrific" but again said there would be no change in policy towards Israel.
"We have not seen them smash into Rafah," he said.
"We have not seen them go in with large units, large numbers of troops, in columns and formations in some sort of coordinated maneuver against multiple targets on the ground."
But internationally the pressure is growing on Biden, a self-described Zionist who has stuck by Netanyahu despite deep disagreements since the war began with the October 7 Hamas attack.
Questions are mounting over how long the United States can tolerate an Israeli assault on Rafah when the International Court of Justice -- the UN's top court, of which both the US and Israel are members -- ordered it to stop.
- 'Balancing act' -
Political pressure is also mounting on Biden at home.
Protests against his support for Israel have roiled university campuses across the United States, while many on the left wing of his Democratic Party also oppose his stance.
Republicans however have assailed Biden over what they say is his faltering support for Israel, with US House Speaker Mike Johnson inviting Netanyahu to address Congress.
"It is indeed a difficult balancing act," Gordon Gray, a former US ambassador who is now a professor at George Washington University, told AFP.
"Threading the proverbial needle -- as the Biden administration is apparently seeking to do -- will only disappoint voters who feel strongly about the issue one way or another."
Gray however said he believed Biden's decades-old support for Israel meant he would unlikely change his position, saying he was a "rare politician who is acting out of genuine conviction rather than for his own electoral benefit."
dk/bjt
President Biden has no plans to change his Israel policy following deadly weekend strike on Gaza's Rafah says White House, adding Washington does not believe Tel Aviv's actions in Rafah amount to full-scale invasion
A view shows a UN vehicle damaged in an Israeli strike in Rafah on May 28, 2024. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled / Photo: Reuters
Israel has not violated President Joe Biden's "red line" for withholding future offensive arms transfers because it has not, and it appears to Washington that Tel Aviv will not launch a full-scale ground invasion into southern Gaza's Rafah city, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
Kirby on Tuesday condemned the killing of dozens of civilians as "heartbreaking" and "horrific" from an Israeli air strike in Rafah on the weekend that left nearly 50 Palestinians dead and 250 wounded, but said US is not planning any policy changes as a result of the Israeli actions.
"Everything that we can see tells us that they are not moving into a major ground operation in population centers in the center of Rafah," Kirby said, adding "we certainly condemn the loss of life here."
He added that the US was monitoring the results of Tel Aviv's investigation into the what Israeli government said was a "precision strike".
Shifting narratives from Tel Aviv on the massacre has sparked interest.
Initially, Israeli occupation forces said they carried out "precision strikes" with "precision munitions" on Hamas members in Rafah where displaced Palestinians were taking refuge. After global condemnations, Israeli hawkish PM Benjamin Netanyahu called it a "tragic mistake." Now, Israel claims the civilian killings were the result of a secondary explosion after its strike on two Hamas operatives.
"We understand that this strike did kill two senior Hamas heads who are directly responsible for attacks," Kirby said, appearing to give credit to new Israeli version of the story. "We've also said many times Israel must take every precaution possible to do more to protect innocent life."
The pictures and videos of dismembered and charred bodies, some of them belonging to babies, raised an international hue and cry as tens of thousands of people took to streets in Western cities to protest.
US has not paused arms shipments to Israel
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, meanwhile, told reporters that Israel's weeks-old invasion in Rafah was still on a "far different" scale than the assaults Israeli military waged on other cities in Gaza earlier in the seven-month war.
Miller said he had no direct knowledge of reported accounts from witnesses on the ground on Tuesday that Israeli tanks had entered the centre of Gaza, and noted Israel had denied responsibility for a new Israeli strike outside of Rafah on Tuesday that killed dozens.
Israeli shelling and air strikes killed at least 37 people, most of them sheltering in tents, outside of Rafah overnight and on Tuesday — pummeling the same area where Israeli carried out Sunday's massacre.
Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said she did not know whether it was a US-provided weapon that was used in the deadly Sunday strike that killed the dozens of civilians at a displacement camp.
"I have to refer you to the Israelis to speak to that," Singh said.
Singh said the US has not paused shipments to Israel in the wake of the strike. "Security assistance continues to flow."
TRT WORLD
Most of those fleeing Rafah have poured into a "humanitarian zone" that is centered on al Mawasi, a largely barren strip of coastal land.
Genocidal war
Israel has killed at least 36,096 Palestinians — including babies, children, and women — and wounded 81,136 in its 235-day war on Gaza, while some 10,000+ people are feared buried under the debris of bombed homes.
Israel's bombardment in Rafah has caused more than one million Palestinians to flee, most of whom had already been displaced in the war waged by Israel. They now seek refuge in squalid tent camps and other war-ravaged areas, where they lack shelter, food, water and other essentials for survival, the UN says.
Juliette Touma, spokesperson for the agency known as UNRWA, told a UN press conference on Tuesday that the agency's teams on the ground say heavy Israeli bombardments again took place overnight including in the area north of Rafah home to the UN main offices as well as UNRWA's offices. Most of its staff didn't make it to work and were "packing and moving," she said.
Israel has waged a brutal invasion on Gaza since Hamas' October 7 blitz on Israeli military and settlements that were once Arab villages and farms.
Hamas says its raid that surprised its arch-enemy was orchestrated in response to Israeli attacks on Al Aqsa Mosque, illegal settler violence in occupied West Bank and to put Palestine question "back on the table."
In an assault of startling breadth, Hamas gunmen rolled into as many as 22 locations outside Gaza, including towns and other communities as far as 24 kilometres from the Gaza fence.
At some places they are said to have gunned down many soldiers as Israel's military scrambled to muster response.
The hours-long attack and Israeli military's haphazard response resulted in the killing of more than 1,130 people, Israeli officials and local media say.
Palestinian fighters took more than 250 hostages and presently 130 remain in Gaza, including 34 who the Israeli army says are dead, some of them killed in indiscriminate Israeli strikes.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered Tel Aviv to ensure that its forces do not commit acts of genocide and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in the enclave.
In its latest order, breached by Tel Aviv multiple times, the court ruled that Israel should: "Immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part."
SOURCE: TRTWORLD AND AA
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, meanwhile, told reporters that Israel's weeks-old invasion in Rafah was still on a "far different" scale than the assaults Israeli military waged on other cities in Gaza earlier in the seven-month war.
Miller said he had no direct knowledge of reported accounts from witnesses on the ground on Tuesday that Israeli tanks had entered the centre of Gaza, and noted Israel had denied responsibility for a new Israeli strike outside of Rafah on Tuesday that killed dozens.
Israeli shelling and air strikes killed at least 37 people, most of them sheltering in tents, outside of Rafah overnight and on Tuesday — pummeling the same area where Israeli carried out Sunday's massacre.
Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said she did not know whether it was a US-provided weapon that was used in the deadly Sunday strike that killed the dozens of civilians at a displacement camp.
"I have to refer you to the Israelis to speak to that," Singh said.
Singh said the US has not paused shipments to Israel in the wake of the strike. "Security assistance continues to flow."
TRT WORLD
Most of those fleeing Rafah have poured into a "humanitarian zone" that is centered on al Mawasi, a largely barren strip of coastal land.
Genocidal war
Israel has killed at least 36,096 Palestinians — including babies, children, and women — and wounded 81,136 in its 235-day war on Gaza, while some 10,000+ people are feared buried under the debris of bombed homes.
Israel's bombardment in Rafah has caused more than one million Palestinians to flee, most of whom had already been displaced in the war waged by Israel. They now seek refuge in squalid tent camps and other war-ravaged areas, where they lack shelter, food, water and other essentials for survival, the UN says.
Juliette Touma, spokesperson for the agency known as UNRWA, told a UN press conference on Tuesday that the agency's teams on the ground say heavy Israeli bombardments again took place overnight including in the area north of Rafah home to the UN main offices as well as UNRWA's offices. Most of its staff didn't make it to work and were "packing and moving," she said.
Israel has waged a brutal invasion on Gaza since Hamas' October 7 blitz on Israeli military and settlements that were once Arab villages and farms.
Hamas says its raid that surprised its arch-enemy was orchestrated in response to Israeli attacks on Al Aqsa Mosque, illegal settler violence in occupied West Bank and to put Palestine question "back on the table."
In an assault of startling breadth, Hamas gunmen rolled into as many as 22 locations outside Gaza, including towns and other communities as far as 24 kilometres from the Gaza fence.
At some places they are said to have gunned down many soldiers as Israel's military scrambled to muster response.
The hours-long attack and Israeli military's haphazard response resulted in the killing of more than 1,130 people, Israeli officials and local media say.
Palestinian fighters took more than 250 hostages and presently 130 remain in Gaza, including 34 who the Israeli army says are dead, some of them killed in indiscriminate Israeli strikes.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered Tel Aviv to ensure that its forces do not commit acts of genocide and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in the enclave.
In its latest order, breached by Tel Aviv multiple times, the court ruled that Israel should: "Immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part."
SOURCE: TRTWORLD AND AA
IDF releases preliminary results of investigation into Rafah strike - IAF munitions not to blame for fire
Israeli military promises 'investigation will be swift, comprehensive and transparent'
Palestinians inspect damage after a fire in the Al-Mawasi area, west of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, May 27, 2024. (Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Daniel Hagari gave a press conference in English on Tuesday evening, where he reiterated that the Israeli military is investigating the causes of the fire that broke out after the Israeli Air Force (IAF) airstrike that killed two senior Hamas commanders on Sunday night.
In the briefing, Hagari said the IDF is also investigating the possibility that Hamas weapons stored in the area of the strike were responsible for causing the fire, which spread to an area of tents killing a number of civilians.
“On Sunday, we eliminated senior Hamas terrorists in a targeted strike, on a compound used by Hamas in Rafah,” Hagari said. “The strike was based on precise intelligence that indicated that these terrorists, who were responsible for orchestrating and executing terror attacks against Israelis, were meeting inside this structure we targeted.”
Hagari continued, “Sadly, following the strike, due to unforeseen circumstances, a fire ignited, taking the lives of Gazan civilians nearby. Despite our efforts to minimize civilian casualties during the strike, the fire that broke out was unexpected and unintended.”
Hagari called the deaths of Palestinian civilians a “devastating incident, which we did not expect.” According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, 45 people were killed in the incident.
Hagari also presented satellite imagery from the site, saying the IDF “targeted a closed structure away from the tent area. There are no tents in the immediate vicinity.”
“Contrary to reports, we conducted the strike outside the area that we designated as a humanitarian area and called civilians to evacuate to. Our strike was over a kilometer and a half away from the al-Mawasi humanitarian area,” he noted, contradicting reports by the Palestinian Authority and some NGOs that the IAF had struck within al-Mawasi.
Hagari also denied reports that the IAF used a 2,000-pound bomb.
“The strike was conducted using two munitions with small warheads, suited for this targeted strike. We are talking about munitions with 17 kilograms (35 lbs) of explosive material,” Hagari explained, stating that “this is the smallest munitions that our jets can use.”
The United States had previously raised concerns about Israel's use of large munitions in crowded urban conditions.
“Following this strike, a large fire ignited, for reasons still being investigated. Our munition alone could not have ignited a fire of this size,” Hagari noted.
Hagari said the IDF is “looking into all possibilities, including the option that weapons stored in a compound next to our target, which we did not know of, may have ignited as a result of the strike.”
Noting that Hamas has been operating in the Rafah area since Oct. 7, Hagari showed an image of Hamas rocket launchers only 43 meters (about 140 feet) from the location of the strike. He said that Hamas used the launchers in the Oct. 7 attacks.
The IDF is looking into “footage, documented by Gazans on the night of the strike, posted on social media, which appeared to show secondary explosions,” Hagari added, and said this could indicate “that there may have been weapons in the area.”
The IDF also released a recording of a phone call in which Gaza residents discussed “the possibility that weapons stored in a nearby compound caught fire.”
Hagari acknowledged the tragic nature of the incident, saying, “We took a number of steps prior to the strike to avoid civilian casualties. Aerial surveillance, using specific munitions to minimize collateral damage, delaying the attack to further assess the expected civilian presence, and other means.”
“Our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza, which is why we convey deep sorrow for this tragic loss of life.”
Nikki Haley Visits Israel And Signs Artillery Shells With Callous Messages
Paige Skinner
Tue, May 28, 2024
Danny Danon, a member of Israel's parliament, and Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, visit a home Monday on Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel that had been torched by Hamas. A quarter of Nir Oz residents were killed or kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7 in attacks that sparked Israel's retaliatory strikes on Gaza, which have so far left an estimated 35,000 Palestinians dead.
Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley visited Israel over Memorial Day weekend and signed her name on Israeli artillery shells as a show of support for the country’s war with Gaza, where an estimated 35,000 Palestinians have been killed so far.
Haley, a former U.N. ambassador, traveled with Danny Danon, a member of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, to an Israel Defense Forces post and interacted with soldiers serving on the northern border with Lebanon. Danon posted photos on social media of Haley signing the artillery shells and including the messages “Finish them!” and “America loves Israel!”
“This is what my friend, the former ambassador, Nikki Haley wrote today about a shell during a visit to an artillery post on the northern border,” Danon wrote on social media, according to Google Translate.
Though it’s not totally clear where the bombs are intended to be used, the move was decried as insensitive as Israel attacks Rafah in its ongoing campaign in Gaza. Airstrikes on Sunday killed an estimated 50 refugees who were sheltering in tents in Rafah after being evacuated from other parts of the Gaza Strip. On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the airstrikes “a tragic mistake.”
On Tuesday, Haley posted photos of the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel on social media with the caption, “No other country would accept this, Israel should not either.”
Haley also met Monday with Israeli survivors of the Oct. 7 attack, which left an estimated 1,190 people dead and about 240 taken hostage. She told reporters in Israel that America should not withhold weapons from the nation.
“America needs to do whatever Israel needs and stop telling them how to fight this war,” Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, said. “Until you’ve lived it, you can’t say how to fight it. You’re either a friend or you’re not a friend.”
After dropping out of the 2024 presidential race in March, Haley endorsed former President Donald Trump last week, despite earlier having called Trump “unhinged,” “diminished” and not fit to be president.
Former US presidential candidate visits Sderot, says US must not withhold weapons from Israel
Associated Press Videos
Updated Mon, May 27, 2024
Nikki Haley, former presidential candidate and former U.S. ambassador to the U.N, said on Monday that the Washington should support Israel and not withhold weapons.
Opinion
Nikki Haley Signs Her Name on Israeli Bombs—Alongside Sick Message
Hafiz Rashid
Tue, May 28, 2024
Nikki Haley, former presidential candidate turned Trump endorser, spent Memorial Day not commemorating fallen American servicemembers but visiting Israel as it conducts a brutal massacre in Gaza.
On Monday, Haley posted pictures from a visit to southern Israel, where she met with survivors from Hamas’s attack on October 7. Haley told reporters that the United States “needs to do whatever Israel needs and stop telling them how to fight this war.”
She also traveled to Israel’s northern border with a member of the Israeli Knesset, Danny Dannon, who posted pictures to his own X account on Tuesday with the text “Finish them!” The post also included a picture of Haley signing Israeli artillery shells with the message: “Finish them! America loves Israel!”
Tweet screenshot
Dannon’s post also included, in Hebrew, a message alluding to military strikes against southern Lebanon, referencing two Lebanese cities, according to Google Translate.
“This is what my friend, the former ambassador, Nikki Haley wrote today about a shell during a visit to an artillery post on the northern border,” Dannon wrote.
“The time has come to change the equation—the residents of Tyre and Sidon will evacuate, the residents of the north will return.
“The IDF can win!”
One post from an Israeli peace activist suggested that Haley visited West Bank settlements, which are considered illegal under international law.
Tweet screenshot
Leaving aside the optics of signing bombs when Israel is facing judgment from the International Criminal Court for possible war crimes in Gaza, appearing to endorse military strikes against another country flies in the face of America’s efforts to avoid a wider war in the Middle East. On Monday, an Israeli strike targeting a motorcycle in southern Lebanon landed outside of a hospital, killing the motorcycle driver and a hospital security guard. But more explicitly, Haley is endorsing Israel’s war in Gaza, which has officially killed at least 36,096 people, including 15,000 children, figures that probably don’t include Israel’s latest assault on Rafah.
Outrage after 45 reportedly killed in Israeli strike near Rafah
DPA
Mon, May 27, 2024
General view of tents in which displaced Palestinians take refuge in, next to the Egyptian border with the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. An Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah hit tents housing displaced people, Palestinian medics said on 27 May evening. The Palestinian Red Crescent said on X that there were "numerous" people killed and injured in the bombardment north-west of Rafah.
Nataliya Vasilyeva
Mon, May 27, 2024
Egyptian soldiers at the Rafah border crossing with Gaza. A fatal shoot-out was reported with Israeli forces there - Kerolos Salah/AFP via Getty
An Egyptian soldier was killed and several more injured in a shoot-out with Israeli forces at the border with Gaza in an incident that both parties have tried to play down.
The shooting occurred at the Rafah crossing that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) captured earlier in May.
The Egyptian army was conducting an investigation on Monday afternoon, an army spokesman said.
No Israeli casualties were reported.
The Rafah border crossing. Authorities are investigating the fatal shooting of an Egyptian soldier - Yousef Masoud/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty
Israeli media initially reported that the shoot-out started from the Egyptian side which triggered an Israeli response.
The Al Araby news channel, however, insisted that Israeli soldiers opened fire first.
The IDF said on Monday it was looking into the incident and consulting with the Egyptians.
It comes after an Israeli air strike on Sunday night hit a tent camp full of displaced Palestinians in the Tel al-Sultan neighbourhood in western Rafah, killing scores, including women and children.
The shoot-out could further sour the relations between Israel and Egypt as Cairo recently indicated that it is considering downgrading ties with its neighbour over the war in Gaza.
Egyptian officials, however, stopped short of saying that they would be reviewing the peace treaty with Israel, a cornerstone of regional security.
The border fence at Rafah, where there are tense scenes as Israeli forces hunt for terrorists - Haitham Imad/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The Rafah crossing was the crucial lifeline for delivering aid into Gaza before it was shut down following the Israeli capture of the area.
The traffic jam on the Egyptian side was recently reported to be stretching for 28 miles.
Israel subsequently said it was ready to allow it to open but Egypt insisted that it would not agree for the crossing to operate unless it was under Palestinian control.
Israeli media reported that Israel was looking for a temporary solution to reopen Rafah including bringing in foreign security companies to run it.
Paige Skinner
Tue, May 28, 2024
Danny Danon, a member of Israel's parliament, and Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, visit a home Monday on Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel that had been torched by Hamas. A quarter of Nir Oz residents were killed or kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7 in attacks that sparked Israel's retaliatory strikes on Gaza, which have so far left an estimated 35,000 Palestinians dead.
Maya Alleruzzo/Associated PressMore
Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley visited Israel over Memorial Day weekend and signed her name on Israeli artillery shells as a show of support for the country’s war with Gaza, where an estimated 35,000 Palestinians have been killed so far.
Haley, a former U.N. ambassador, traveled with Danny Danon, a member of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, to an Israel Defense Forces post and interacted with soldiers serving on the northern border with Lebanon. Danon posted photos on social media of Haley signing the artillery shells and including the messages “Finish them!” and “America loves Israel!”
“This is what my friend, the former ambassador, Nikki Haley wrote today about a shell during a visit to an artillery post on the northern border,” Danon wrote on social media, according to Google Translate.
Though it’s not totally clear where the bombs are intended to be used, the move was decried as insensitive as Israel attacks Rafah in its ongoing campaign in Gaza. Airstrikes on Sunday killed an estimated 50 refugees who were sheltering in tents in Rafah after being evacuated from other parts of the Gaza Strip. On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the airstrikes “a tragic mistake.”
On Tuesday, Haley posted photos of the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel on social media with the caption, “No other country would accept this, Israel should not either.”
Haley also met Monday with Israeli survivors of the Oct. 7 attack, which left an estimated 1,190 people dead and about 240 taken hostage. She told reporters in Israel that America should not withhold weapons from the nation.
“America needs to do whatever Israel needs and stop telling them how to fight this war,” Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, said. “Until you’ve lived it, you can’t say how to fight it. You’re either a friend or you’re not a friend.”
After dropping out of the 2024 presidential race in March, Haley endorsed former President Donald Trump last week, despite earlier having called Trump “unhinged,” “diminished” and not fit to be president.
Former US presidential candidate visits Sderot, says US must not withhold weapons from Israel
Associated Press Videos
Updated Mon, May 27, 2024
Nikki Haley, former presidential candidate and former U.S. ambassador to the U.N, said on Monday that the Washington should support Israel and not withhold weapons.
Opinion
Nikki Haley Signs Her Name on Israeli Bombs—Alongside Sick Message
Hafiz Rashid
Tue, May 28, 2024
Nikki Haley, former presidential candidate turned Trump endorser, spent Memorial Day not commemorating fallen American servicemembers but visiting Israel as it conducts a brutal massacre in Gaza.
On Monday, Haley posted pictures from a visit to southern Israel, where she met with survivors from Hamas’s attack on October 7. Haley told reporters that the United States “needs to do whatever Israel needs and stop telling them how to fight this war.”
She also traveled to Israel’s northern border with a member of the Israeli Knesset, Danny Dannon, who posted pictures to his own X account on Tuesday with the text “Finish them!” The post also included a picture of Haley signing Israeli artillery shells with the message: “Finish them! America loves Israel!”
Tweet screenshot
Dannon’s post also included, in Hebrew, a message alluding to military strikes against southern Lebanon, referencing two Lebanese cities, according to Google Translate.
“This is what my friend, the former ambassador, Nikki Haley wrote today about a shell during a visit to an artillery post on the northern border,” Dannon wrote.
“The time has come to change the equation—the residents of Tyre and Sidon will evacuate, the residents of the north will return.
“The IDF can win!”
One post from an Israeli peace activist suggested that Haley visited West Bank settlements, which are considered illegal under international law.
Tweet screenshot
Leaving aside the optics of signing bombs when Israel is facing judgment from the International Criminal Court for possible war crimes in Gaza, appearing to endorse military strikes against another country flies in the face of America’s efforts to avoid a wider war in the Middle East. On Monday, an Israeli strike targeting a motorcycle in southern Lebanon landed outside of a hospital, killing the motorcycle driver and a hospital security guard. But more explicitly, Haley is endorsing Israel’s war in Gaza, which has officially killed at least 36,096 people, including 15,000 children, figures that probably don’t include Israel’s latest assault on Rafah.
Outrage after 45 reportedly killed in Israeli strike near Rafah
DPA
Mon, May 27, 2024
General view of tents in which displaced Palestinians take refuge in, next to the Egyptian border with the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. An Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah hit tents housing displaced people, Palestinian medics said on 27 May evening. The Palestinian Red Crescent said on X that there were "numerous" people killed and injured in the bombardment north-west of Rafah.
Abed Rahim Khatib/dpaMore
The Hamas-run health authority in Gaza on Monday said 45 people were killed and dozens injured in an Israeli airstrike that hit tents housing displaced people near the southern city of Rafah.
Most of the victims of the airstrike were women and children, the health authority said, describing the incident as a "massacre."
The information could not initially be independently verified, but the Palestinian Red Crescent earlier said on the social media platform X that there were "numerous" people killed and injured in the bombardment north-west of Rafah.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, that Israel was investigating "an incident."
"In Rafah, we have evacuated about one million civilians," Netanyahu said on Monday.
"Tragically, despite our immense efforts to avoid harming non-combatants, an incident occurred yesterday. We are investigating it thoroughly and will learn from it, as is our policy and longstanding conduct."
"For us, any non-combatant hurt is a tragedy, for Hamas, it is a strategy," Netanyahu stated. "That is the core difference."
Earlier, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said via X that two senior officials of the Palestinian militant group Hamas were killed in the airstrike.
"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' 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," the statement added.
The strike came just days after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague ordered Israel to halt its assault on Rafah.
The incident sparked international horror and outrage.
The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday, following a request by Algeria supported by Slovenia, diplomats said.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the airstrikes "which killed scores of innocent civilians who were only seeking shelter from this deadly conflict," he wrote on X.
"There is no safe place in Gaza. This horror must stop."
Meanwhile, an exchange of fire between Israeli and Egyptian troops near the border to the Gaza Strip also caused new concerns that the war could escalate.
An Egyptian soldier was killed, an Egyptian military spokesman confirmed on Monday.
It is the first publicly known fatality in the ranks of the Egyptian military since the start of the Gaza war almost eight months ago. Israel's army confirmed an exchange of fire and said the incident was being investigated.
The situation at the Rafah border crossing has become increasingly tense. Israeli troops recently took control of the crossing on the Palestinian side as well as a border strip between Egypt and Gaza.
Aid organizations report dozens dead in Israeli strike
The Palestinian Red Crescent said that the air raid hit a designated humanitarian zone for those who had been forced to evacuate Rafah due to the Israeli fighting.
The aid organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported that a medical facility it supports in the area treated dozens of wounded, while more than 15 dead people were brought to their trauma stabilization point.
"We are horrified by this deadly event, which shows once again that nowhere is safe. We continue to call for an immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza," MSF said on X.
Arab countries react angrily
Several Arab countries on Monday condemned the Israeli airstrike.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said the "deliberate bombing of displaced people's tents in the Palestinian city of Rafah" was a "new and blatant violation of the provisions of international law."
Qatar also condemned the attack as a "grave violation of international laws that will aggravate the humanitarian crisis in the besieged Strip."
The Qatari Foreign Ministry expressed concern that the latest strike would complicate ongoing mediation efforts and obstruct a permanent ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas confirmed to dpa that it was suspending ceasefire negotiations which were expected to restart this week.
In separate statements, Jordan and Kuwait condemned "war crimes" committed by Israel in Gaza and urged the international community to compel Israel to adhere to the ICJ ruling on Rafah.
Germany calls strike 'a mistake'
German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said the airstrike was presumably "a mistake" and again defended Israel's "right to defend itself within the framework of international law."
Asked about allegations of Israeli war crimes in Gaza, Hebestreit said that the German government would withhold judgement.
"The conclusion as to whether this is a war crime in terms of international law is something that must be left to lawyers who know the exact facts," Hebestreit said in Berlin.
If there is evidence of such a crime, the German government would certainly condemn it, Hebestreit said.
World leaders condemn Israeli airstrike in Rafah
French President Emmanuel Macron was among the leaders calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and full compliance with international law.
"These operations must stop," wrote an "outraged" Macron on X. "There are no safe zones for Palestinian civilians in Rafah."
The "devastating images" following the attack were "heartbreaking," a US State Department spokesperson said.
"We are actively engaging the IDF and partners on the ground to assess what happened, and understand that the IDF is conducting an investigation."
"We are horrified by strikes that killed Palestinian civilians in Rafah," Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly wrote on X.
"Israel's strikes have had horrific and unacceptable consequences," Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong wrote.
The war in Gaza was triggered by the massacre of more than 1,200 people by terrorists from Hamas and other militant groups on October 7.
Israel responded with massive airstrikes and a ground offensive. International criticism of Israel has grown as the death toll among Palestinians has increased. It currently stands at over 35,000 people killed, according to Hamas authorities in Gaza.
Palestinians inspect their destroyed tents after an Israeli air strike, which resulted in numerous deaths and injuries, in the Al-Mawasi area, which was bombed with a number of missiles on the tents of displaced people west of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
Palestinians inspect their destroyed tents after an Israeli air strike, which resulted in numerous deaths and injuries, in the Al-Mawasi area, which was bombed with a number of missiles on the tents of displaced people west of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
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Egyptian soldier killed in shoot-out with Israeli forces in Gaza
The Hamas-run health authority in Gaza on Monday said 45 people were killed and dozens injured in an Israeli airstrike that hit tents housing displaced people near the southern city of Rafah.
Most of the victims of the airstrike were women and children, the health authority said, describing the incident as a "massacre."
The information could not initially be independently verified, but the Palestinian Red Crescent earlier said on the social media platform X that there were "numerous" people killed and injured in the bombardment north-west of Rafah.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, that Israel was investigating "an incident."
"In Rafah, we have evacuated about one million civilians," Netanyahu said on Monday.
"Tragically, despite our immense efforts to avoid harming non-combatants, an incident occurred yesterday. We are investigating it thoroughly and will learn from it, as is our policy and longstanding conduct."
"For us, any non-combatant hurt is a tragedy, for Hamas, it is a strategy," Netanyahu stated. "That is the core difference."
Earlier, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said via X that two senior officials of the Palestinian militant group Hamas were killed in the airstrike.
"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' 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," the statement added.
The strike came just days after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague ordered Israel to halt its assault on Rafah.
The incident sparked international horror and outrage.
The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday, following a request by Algeria supported by Slovenia, diplomats said.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the airstrikes "which killed scores of innocent civilians who were only seeking shelter from this deadly conflict," he wrote on X.
"There is no safe place in Gaza. This horror must stop."
Meanwhile, an exchange of fire between Israeli and Egyptian troops near the border to the Gaza Strip also caused new concerns that the war could escalate.
An Egyptian soldier was killed, an Egyptian military spokesman confirmed on Monday.
It is the first publicly known fatality in the ranks of the Egyptian military since the start of the Gaza war almost eight months ago. Israel's army confirmed an exchange of fire and said the incident was being investigated.
The situation at the Rafah border crossing has become increasingly tense. Israeli troops recently took control of the crossing on the Palestinian side as well as a border strip between Egypt and Gaza.
Aid organizations report dozens dead in Israeli strike
The Palestinian Red Crescent said that the air raid hit a designated humanitarian zone for those who had been forced to evacuate Rafah due to the Israeli fighting.
The aid organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported that a medical facility it supports in the area treated dozens of wounded, while more than 15 dead people were brought to their trauma stabilization point.
"We are horrified by this deadly event, which shows once again that nowhere is safe. We continue to call for an immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza," MSF said on X.
Arab countries react angrily
Several Arab countries on Monday condemned the Israeli airstrike.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said the "deliberate bombing of displaced people's tents in the Palestinian city of Rafah" was a "new and blatant violation of the provisions of international law."
Qatar also condemned the attack as a "grave violation of international laws that will aggravate the humanitarian crisis in the besieged Strip."
The Qatari Foreign Ministry expressed concern that the latest strike would complicate ongoing mediation efforts and obstruct a permanent ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas confirmed to dpa that it was suspending ceasefire negotiations which were expected to restart this week.
In separate statements, Jordan and Kuwait condemned "war crimes" committed by Israel in Gaza and urged the international community to compel Israel to adhere to the ICJ ruling on Rafah.
Germany calls strike 'a mistake'
German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said the airstrike was presumably "a mistake" and again defended Israel's "right to defend itself within the framework of international law."
Asked about allegations of Israeli war crimes in Gaza, Hebestreit said that the German government would withhold judgement.
"The conclusion as to whether this is a war crime in terms of international law is something that must be left to lawyers who know the exact facts," Hebestreit said in Berlin.
If there is evidence of such a crime, the German government would certainly condemn it, Hebestreit said.
World leaders condemn Israeli airstrike in Rafah
French President Emmanuel Macron was among the leaders calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and full compliance with international law.
"These operations must stop," wrote an "outraged" Macron on X. "There are no safe zones for Palestinian civilians in Rafah."
The "devastating images" following the attack were "heartbreaking," a US State Department spokesperson said.
"We are actively engaging the IDF and partners on the ground to assess what happened, and understand that the IDF is conducting an investigation."
"We are horrified by strikes that killed Palestinian civilians in Rafah," Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly wrote on X.
"Israel's strikes have had horrific and unacceptable consequences," Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong wrote.
The war in Gaza was triggered by the massacre of more than 1,200 people by terrorists from Hamas and other militant groups on October 7.
Israel responded with massive airstrikes and a ground offensive. International criticism of Israel has grown as the death toll among Palestinians has increased. It currently stands at over 35,000 people killed, according to Hamas authorities in Gaza.
Palestinians inspect their destroyed tents after an Israeli air strike, which resulted in numerous deaths and injuries, in the Al-Mawasi area, which was bombed with a number of missiles on the tents of displaced people west of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
Palestinians inspect their destroyed tents after an Israeli air strike, which resulted in numerous deaths and injuries, in the Al-Mawasi area, which was bombed with a number of missiles on the tents of displaced people west of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
View comments (36)
Egyptian soldier killed in shoot-out with Israeli forces in Gaza
Nataliya Vasilyeva
Mon, May 27, 2024
Egyptian soldiers at the Rafah border crossing with Gaza. A fatal shoot-out was reported with Israeli forces there - Kerolos Salah/AFP via Getty
An Egyptian soldier was killed and several more injured in a shoot-out with Israeli forces at the border with Gaza in an incident that both parties have tried to play down.
The shooting occurred at the Rafah crossing that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) captured earlier in May.
The Egyptian army was conducting an investigation on Monday afternoon, an army spokesman said.
No Israeli casualties were reported.
The Rafah border crossing. Authorities are investigating the fatal shooting of an Egyptian soldier - Yousef Masoud/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty
Israeli media initially reported that the shoot-out started from the Egyptian side which triggered an Israeli response.
The Al Araby news channel, however, insisted that Israeli soldiers opened fire first.
The IDF said on Monday it was looking into the incident and consulting with the Egyptians.
It comes after an Israeli air strike on Sunday night hit a tent camp full of displaced Palestinians in the Tel al-Sultan neighbourhood in western Rafah, killing scores, including women and children.
The shoot-out could further sour the relations between Israel and Egypt as Cairo recently indicated that it is considering downgrading ties with its neighbour over the war in Gaza.
Egyptian officials, however, stopped short of saying that they would be reviewing the peace treaty with Israel, a cornerstone of regional security.
The border fence at Rafah, where there are tense scenes as Israeli forces hunt for terrorists - Haitham Imad/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The Rafah crossing was the crucial lifeline for delivering aid into Gaza before it was shut down following the Israeli capture of the area.
The traffic jam on the Egyptian side was recently reported to be stretching for 28 miles.
Israel subsequently said it was ready to allow it to open but Egypt insisted that it would not agree for the crossing to operate unless it was under Palestinian control.
Israeli media reported that Israel was looking for a temporary solution to reopen Rafah including bringing in foreign security companies to run it.
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