(Rafah) Gaza Civil Defense on Monday reported 40 dead following an overnight Israeli strike that set fire to tents occupied by displaced Palestinians in a camp in Rafah, an attack that drew condemnations abroad.
The Israeli military said it carried out an airstrike targeting two senior Hamas officials late Sunday, and was investigating reports of civilians killed in a fire.
The attack in Rafah, where Israel launched ground operations on May 7 despite concerns expressed within the international community out of fear for the civilian population, was denounced in particular by Egypt and Qatar, mediators in the diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire in the devastating war that began almost eight months ago.
After the strike, the Palestinian Civil Defense reported numerous bodies “charred” in a fire which ravaged the Barkasat displaced persons camp, managed by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), in the north -west of Rafah.
“The massacre committed by the Israeli occupation army in the refugee tents […] left 40 “martyrs” and 65 injured,” said Mohammed al-Mughayyir, a Civil Defense official in the Gaza Strip.
PHOTO JEHAD ALSHRAFI, ASSOCIATED PRESS
The attack on the camp was denounced in particular by Egypt and Qatar, mediators in diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire in the devastating war that began almost eight months ago.
“We saw charred, dismembered bodies… We also saw cases of amputations, injured children, women and elderly people,” he added.
Images from the Palestinian Red Crescent showed scenes of chaos, ambulances with sirens blaring and rescuers in the middle of the night on a burning site, evacuating the injured, including children.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that one of its field hospitals was receiving an “influx of wounded people seeking treatment for burns” and that “our teams are doing their best to save lives.”
AFP images in the early morning show the charred remains of makeshift tents and vehicles, with families seeing a blackened landscape around them.
“Fire all around”
“We had just finished evening prayers. Our children were sleeping […], suddenly we heard a loud noise and there was fire all around us. The children were screaming. The noise was terrifying. It looked like shrapnel going through the rooms,” said a Palestinian woman who refused to be identified.
Mr. Mughayyir highlighted great difficulties in the rescue efforts due to the shortage caused by the Israeli siege. “There is a fuel shortage […] roads have been destroyed, which hampers the movement of Civil Defense vehicles.” “There is also a shortage of water to put out fires,” he said.
The Israeli army said it had carried out an airstrike on “a Hamas compound in Rafah in which major terrorists were operating”, including two leaders of the movement in the West Bank, Yacine Rabia and Khaled Nagar, were killed.
The strike came hours after eight rockets were fired at Tel Aviv from Rafah, for the first time in several months, with the Israeli army saying it had intercepted “a number”. Hamas’ military wing said it had fired “a major barrage of rockets in response to Zionist massacres against civilians.”
Jordan strongly condemned “ongoing war crimes.” She considers that the Israeli strike “defies the decisions of the ICJ and constitutes a serious violation of international law and international humanitarian law”.
On Friday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to suspend its operations in Rafah, which in nearly three weeks, according to the UN, had driven some 800,000 people to flee, many of whom had already been displaced several times by the war. .
A key mediator with Qatar and the United States, Egypt condemned a “deliberate bombing by Israeli forces on the tents of displaced people” in Rafah, calling on Israel to “implement the measures decreed by the ICJ”.
Qatar warned that Israeli strikes in Rafah could “complicate mediation efforts, calling” on the international community to act urgently to prevent genocide and protect civilians.
” Justice “
Saudi Arabia also condemned “in the strongest terms the continuation of the massacres”. Kuwait denounced “blatant war crimes”.
For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron said he was “outraged”, and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, promised that his country would do “everything possible to hold the barbaric Israeli authorities accountable”.
The war was triggered by an attack carried out on October 7 on Israeli soil by Hamas commandos infiltrated from the Gaza Strip, resulting in the death of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count carried out in from official Israeli data.
That day, 252 people were taken as hostages into the Palestinian territory, of whom 121 are still being held in Gaza, including 37 who died, according to the army.
The retaliation by Israel, which says it wants to destroy Hamas, has left at least 36,050 dead in the Gaza Strip, mainly civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
On Monday, the Israeli army said it had carried out airstrikes over the past 24 hours that hit and destroyed “more than 75 terrorist targets” across the Gaza Strip.
After nearly eight months of war, pressure is mounting on Israel and the UN is warning of an imminent famine in the besieged Gaza Strip, where most hospitals are no longer functioning.
On Tuesday, Spain, Norway and Ireland will recognize the State of Palestine, an announcement made last week which angered Israel.
“Anyone who awards a prize to Hamas and attempts to establish a Palestinian terrorist state will not be in contact with the Palestinians,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz blasted Monday, including the country, as well as the United States and the The European Union considers Hamas to be a terrorist organization.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry announced on Monday “punitive measures” against the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem ordering it to cease its services to Palestinians from 1er June.