Why deadly Israeli bombing of Rafah refugee camp sparks unprecedented wave of condemnation

This strike took place on Sunday as international pressure on the Jewish state further intensified. The International Court of Justice ordered Tel Aviv on Friday to suspend its military operations in this city bordering Egypt, where nearly a million people have taken refuge.

A bombing that outrages the international community. The Israeli army’s strike against a Palestinian refugee camp in Rafah, in the Gaza Strip, on Sunday May 26, exposed Israel to almost unanimous criticism and condemnation. The heavy toll (45 dead and nearly 250 injured, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health), which mainly concerns civilians who had fled the fighting, but also the violence of the images which are going around the world, arouse many reactions. An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council was called for Tuesday.

In a message published Sunday on the social network “a complex of Hamas”, killing two leaders of the Palestinian movement.

Images that shocked the whole world

Minutes after the bombing, videos began circulating on social media. We see there flames rising from car wrecks, en middle of the night. Survivors try to contain its spread to makeshift shelters, while a ballet of ambulances follow one another. On the ground lie charred and sometimes dismembered bodies. “My cousin’s daughter, a child of no more than 13 years old, is one of the ‘martyrs’. Her features were unrecognizable, because the shrapnel tore her face off”Mohammad Hamad, 24, testified to AFP.

These scenes of horror aroused great emotion within the international community. On X, Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday “unworthy” and estimated that “these operations [israéliennes] must stop“. From Brussels, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, said “horrified”. Across the Atlantic, the White House, Tel Aviv’s main supporter, said it “upset” by these images.

Civilian victims who had fled the fighting

Several NGOs, including the Palestinian Red Crescent, assured that the Israeli army had targeted a camp located in the “humanitarian zone” decreed by Israel, in which civilians are supposed to be protected. Since the start of the Jewish State’s offensive in Gaza, the Israeli army has compartmentalized Gazan territory into numbered zones, in particular to alert the population of the areas to be evacuated. Sunday night’s strike and subsequent fire occurred in an area that is outside – but close to – designated safe humanitarian space.

However, as noted Release, the struck location was not part of the areas the army had ordered to be evacuated. This camp was made up of numerous shelters and tents set up not far from warehouses of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

Questioned by AFP, Abou Mohammad, a civilian, explained that he was surprised by this bombing. This Gazan had fled a district of Rafah due to the evacuation order issued on May 6 by the Israeli army using leaflets. “We complied and came here. And despite this, yesterday [dimanche]while I was having dinner, at sunset, I suddenly felt like an earthquake.”

In a statement published Monday on X, the presidency of the Palestinian Authority accused Israel of having deliberately targeted this camp for displaced people. “There is no law prohibiting attacks on civilians that Israel would respect, there is no language requiring a ceasefire that Israel would heed, says the presidency. Instead, he [Israël] continues to act as a state above the law, blatantly violating all rules of law, all moral values ​​of humanity.” On Tuesday, the Israeli army on the contrary affirmed that its munitions could not have “themselves” caused the deadly fire.

An operation carried out despite warnings from the international community

Before the launch of the Israeli operation in Rafah in early May, the international community had warned for weeks about the risks it would pose to civilian populations. The city, bordering Egypt to the south of the Palestinian enclave, welcomed around 1.2 million people at the start of the month – most of them refugees from other towns in the Gaza Strip – compared to 250,000 before the October 7. The Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, warned Israel on May 10 that a ground offensive in Rafah would lead to a “colossal humanitarian disaster”.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) also ordered Israel on Friday to stop “immediately” its military operations in Rafah, an injunction that the Jewish state has not respected.