An Israeli airstrike that caused a huge blaze at a camp for displaced people in Rafah killed 45 people, medics said yesterday, with images of dead and injured children prompting an outcry from global leaders and putting ceasefire talks in jeopardy.
Bombing on Sunday night, which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said targeted senior Hamas militants, appears to have ignited fires that spread quickly through tents, overwhelming a nearby field hospital operated by the Red Cross and overstretched local hospitals.
"We pulled out people who were in an unbearable state," Mohammed Abuassa, who rushed to the scene in the north-western neighbourhood of Tel al-Sultan, told the Associated Press. "We pulled out children who were in pieces. We pulled out young and elderly people. The fire in the camp was unreal." The health ministry in the Hamascontrolled area said about half the dead were women, children and older adults. Children wandered around the smoking wreckage yesterday as searches for the dead continued and mourning families prepared to bury loved ones.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in parliament yesterday that "something unfortunately went tragically wrong" with the airstrike. "We are investigating the incident and will reach conclusions," he said.
The US, Israel's staunchest ally and weapons supplier, described the images from the aftermath as devastating.
The strike, one of the deadliest single incidents in the eight-month war to date, came two days after the international court of justice in The Hague, which arbitrates between states, ordered Israel to stop its operation in Rafah immediately.
More than 85% of the Palestinian territory's population had sought shelter in the area having fled fighting elsewhere, and a million people have been forced to move again since Israel's ground operation began on 6 May.
Israeli troops have so far probed the southern and eastern outskirts of Rafah, rather than its overcrowded centre. Aid deliveries have slowed to
a trickle, with the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings in effect blocked.
International censure of Israel's war against Hamas has grown steadily in tandem with the death toll and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but Israeli officials have said 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 judges's 13-2 majority decision in the wake of the Rafah strike.
Qatar, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas in attempts to secure a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages, said the Rafah casualties would complicate the protracted negotiations. The Israeli daily Haaretz reported later yesterday that Hamas had decided to pull out of the latest proposed talks over what its leadership described as a massacre.
Neighbouring Egypt and Jordan, which made peace with Israel decades ago, condemned the strike.
Relations between Egypt and Israel, cool at the best of times, have reached a nadir since the Rafah operation began. The situation deteriorated further yesterday after the Israeli military confirmed there had been an exchange of fire between Israeli and Egyptian soldiers in the Rafah crossing area, in which at least one member of Egypt's security forces was killed. Both countries' militaries ar...
Bombing on Sunday night, which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said targeted senior Hamas militants, appears to have ignited fires that spread quickly through tents, overwhelming a nearby field hospital operated by the Red Cross and overstretched local hospitals.
"We pulled out people who were in an unbearable state," Mohammed Abuassa, who rushed to the scene in the north-western neighbourhood of Tel al-Sultan, told the Associated Press. "We pulled out children who were in pieces. We pulled out young and elderly people. The fire in the camp was unreal." The health ministry in the Hamascontrolled area said about half the dead were women, children and older adults. Children wandered around the smoking wreckage yesterday as searches for the dead continued and mourning families prepared to bury loved ones.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in parliament yesterday that "something unfortunately went tragically wrong" with the airstrike. "We are investigating the incident and will reach conclusions," he said.
The US, Israel's staunchest ally and weapons supplier, described the images from the aftermath as devastating.
The strike, one of the deadliest single incidents in the eight-month war to date, came two days after the international court of justice in The Hague, which arbitrates between states, ordered Israel to stop its operation in Rafah immediately.
More than 85% of the Palestinian territory's population had sought shelter in the area having fled fighting elsewhere, and a million people have been forced to move again since Israel's ground operation began on 6 May.
Israeli troops have so far probed the southern and eastern outskirts of Rafah, rather than its overcrowded centre. Aid deliveries have slowed to
a trickle, with the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings in effect blocked.
International censure of Israel's war against Hamas has grown steadily in tandem with the death toll and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but Israeli officials have said 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 judges's 13-2 majority decision in the wake of the Rafah strike.
Qatar, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas in attempts to secure a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages, said the Rafah casualties would complicate the protracted negotiations. The Israeli daily Haaretz reported later yesterday that Hamas had decided to pull out of the latest proposed talks over what its leadership described as a massacre.
Neighbouring Egypt and Jordan, which made peace with Israel decades ago, condemned the strike.
Relations between Egypt and Israel, cool at the best of times, have reached a nadir since the Rafah operation began. The situation deteriorated further yesterday after the Israeli military confirmed there had been an exchange of fire between Israeli and Egyptian soldiers in the Rafah crossing area, in which at least one member of Egypt's security forces was killed. Both countries' militaries ar...
You're reading a preview of
The Guardian (Digital) - 1 Issue, May 28, 2024