At least 37 Palestinians were killed in Israeli raids near Rafah in Gaza

Deir al-Balah (Gaza Strip) – Israeli bombing and airstrikes have killed at least 37 people, most of them sheltering in tents, outside Gaza City in southern Gaza. Rafah Overnight and Tuesday – it struck the same area where the strikes had caused a deadly fire days earlier in a camp for displaced Palestinians – according to witnesses, emergency workers and hospital officials.

the Camp hell It sparked widespread international outrage, including from some of Israel’s closest allies, over the expanded military attack on Rafah. In a sign of Israel’s increasing isolation on the world stage, Spain, Norway and Ireland officially announced It recognized the Palestinian state Tuesday.

The Israeli army indicated that the fire that broke out on Sunday in the camp may have been caused by secondary explosions, perhaps caused by the weapons of Palestinian militants. The results of Israel’s preliminary investigation into the fire were released on Tuesday, with army spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari saying the cause of the fire was still under investigation but that the Israeli munitions used – targeted what the army said was the location of two senior Hamas leaders. The militants – they were too small to be the source.

It is also possible that the strike or subsequent fire ignited fuel, cooking gas cylinders or other materials in the camp. The fire killed 45 Palestinians, according to statistics from health officials in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the fire was the result of a “tragic accident.”

The Israeli attack on Rafah, which began on May 6, forced more than a million people to flee the city, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) reported on Tuesday. Most of them have already been displaced several times in about eight months The war between Israel and Hamas. Families are now spread everywhere Temporary tent camps And other areas devastated by war.

Over the past few days, the strikes targeted areas west of Rafah, where the army did not order civilians to evacuate. Israeli ground forces and tanks are active in eastern Rafah, in the central parts of the city, and along the border between Gaza and Egypt.

The Palestinian Civil Defense and the Palestinian Red Crescent said that shelling occurred late Monday evening and Tuesday morning in the Tal al-Sultan area, west of Rafah, killing at least 16 people. Seven of the dead were in tents next to a UN facility about 200 meters from the site of Sunday’s fire.

“It was a night of terror,” said Abd al-Rahman Abu Ismail, a Palestinian from Gaza City who had sought refuge in Tal al-Sultan since December. He said he heard “continuous sounds” of explosions overnight and into Tuesday, with fighter jets and drones flying over the area.

He said it reminded him of the Israeli invasion of the Shujaiya neighborhood in Gaza City, where Israel launched an intense bombing campaign before sending in ground forces in late 2023. “We’ve seen this before,” he said.

The United States and other allies of Israel warned against launching a comprehensive attack on the city, and the Biden administration said that this would cross a “red line.” Refusal to provide offensive weapons For such an undertaking. On Tuesday, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller gave no indication that the administration sees Israel crossing any of the red lines in Rafah, saying the attack remains on a “completely different” scale from attacks on other population centers in Gaza.

Witness Ahmed Nassar said that his four cousins ​​and some of their wives and children were killed in the raid, and a number of tents were destroyed or damaged. Most of the people living there had fled the same neighborhood in Gaza City earlier in the war.

“They have nothing to do with anything,” he added.

Netanyahu pledged to move forward in Rafah, saying that Israeli forces must enter the city to dismantle Hamas and return the hostages it holds. October 7 attack That sparked the war.

In its investigation into the attack and deadly shooting that occurred on Sunday, the Israeli military released satellite images of what it said was a Hamas rocket launch site about 40 meters from the area of ​​the targeted hangars. In the photo, the alleged launch pad itself does not appear to have been hit.

He said Israeli warplanes used the smallest possible bombs — two munitions with 17-kilogram (37-pound) warheads. He said: “Our ammunition alone cannot start a fire of this size.”

Hajri said the fire was a “devastating accident that we did not expect” and was ignited due to “unforeseen circumstances.”

However, the raids caused people to flee areas west of Rafah. Sayed Al-Masry, a resident of Rafah, said that many families are heading to the crowded Al-Mawasi area or to the southern city of Khan Yunis. Which sustained severe damage During months of fighting.

Al-Masri said that “the situation is getting worse” in Rafah.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said that two medical facilities in Tal Al-Sultan were out of service due to intense bombing near them. The Palestinian Medical Assistance Organization, a charity that works across the region, said the Tel Sultan Medical Center and the Indonesian field hospital were under siege with medics, patients and displaced people trapped inside.

Most of the population of Gaza Hospitals are no longer working. Kuwait Hospital in Rafah closed its doors on Monday after a bombing near its entrance killed two health workers.

A World Health Organization spokesman said victims of Sunday’s attack and fires had “completely overwhelmed” field hospitals in the area, which were already short of supplies to treat severe burns.

“This requires intensive care, it requires electricity, it requires high-level medical services,” Dr. Margaret Harris told reporters in Geneva. “Increasingly, we are struggling to even get highly skilled doctors and nurses because they have been displaced.”

The war began when Hamas and other militants stormed southern Israel in a surprise attack on October 7, killing about 1,200 civilians and kidnapping about 250. More than 100 were released during a week-long ceasefire in November in exchange for their release. Release Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. .

Israel responded to the attack with a large-scale air, land and sea attack that killed at least 36,096 Palestinians, according to estimates. Ministry of Health in GazaWhich does not differentiate in its share between combatants and civilians. UN officials say that about 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have been displaced. Parts of the region are suffering from famine.