Israeli attack on Rafah tent camp leaves 45 dead and sparks worldwide outrage

An Israeli airstrike sparked a massive fire in a tent camp in the Gaza city of Rafah, killing 45 people, officials said on Monday. International leaders then called for the implementation of an International Court of Justice order to stop the attack.

In grim scenes familiar from an eight-month war, Palestinian families rushed to hospitals to prepare their dead for burial after the attack late Sunday night set fire to tents and rickety metal shelters.

Israel said initial investigations showed that an attack on commanders of the militant Hamas group sparked the fire.

Survivors reported that their families were just getting ready to sleep when the strike began.

“We were praying … and preparing our children’s beds for sleeping. It was nothing unusual, then we heard a very loud noise and fire broke out around us,” said Umm Mohamed Al-Attar, a Palestinian mother wearing a red headscarf.

“All the children started screaming. … The noise was terrifying. We felt as if the metal was falling on us and shrapnel was falling into the rooms.”

The attack took place in the Tel Al-Sultan neighborhood, where thousands had sought shelter after Israeli forces began a ground offensive in eastern Rafah more than two weeks ago.

Video footage seen by Reuters shows a fire raging in the darkness with people screaming in panic. A group of young men tried to clear away sheets of corrugated iron and a hose from a single fire engine began to douse the flames.

More than half of the dead were women, children and elderly people, said the Hamas-controlled health ministry in the Gaza Strip. The number of fatalities with severe burns is likely to rise further.

The Israeli military said Sunday’s attack, based on “precise intelligence,” eliminated Hamas’ chief of staff for the second and larger Palestinian territory, the West Bank, and another official responsible for attacks on Israelis.

Previously, eight rockets fired from the Rafah area towards Israel were intercepted.

Israel has continued its attacks despite a ruling by the UN’s top court on Friday ordering Israel to stop the attacks, arguing that the court ruling gives Israel some leeway for military action there.

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his “outrage” over Israel’s recent attacks. “These operations must stop. There are no safe areas for Palestinian civilians in Rafah,” he said. said to X.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and EU High Representative Josep Borrell said the International Court of Justice’s ruling must be respected. “International humanitarian law applies to everyone, including Israel’s war effort,” said Baerbock.

No safe zone

By daylight, the camp was a smoking ruin of tents, twisted metal and charred belongings.

Women wept and men prayed next to the bodies hidden in shrouds.

Sitting next to the bodies of his relatives, Abed Mohammed Al-Attar said Israel lied when it told residents they were safe in the western areas of Rafah. His brother, sister-in-law and several other relatives were killed in the fire.

“The army is a liar. There is no security in Gaza. There is no security, not for a child, an old man or a woman. Here he (my brother) is with his wife, they were martyred,” he said. “What did they do to deserve this? Their children have become orphans.”

Hospitals in Rafah, including the International Committee of the Red Cross field hospital, were unable to care for all the injured, so some were transferred to hospitals in Khan Younis, further north in the Gaza Strip, for treatment, medics said.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry, based in the West Bank, condemned “the heinous massacre.”

Israeli tanks continued to bombard eastern and central areas of the southern Gaza city on Monday, killing eight people, local health officials said. Three Palestinian police officers were killed in an Israeli attack in the Al-Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, the Gaza Strip’s Interior Ministry said.

More than 36,000 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli offensive, the Health Ministry in Gaza said. Israel launched the operation after Hamas-led militants attacked communities in southern Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli sources.

Israel says it wants to locate Hamas fighters holed up in Rafah and free hostages held in the area.

But the government is facing worldwide criticism for not sparing the lives of civilians.

“In addition to the hunger, starvation and the refusal to allow adequate aid, we witnessed barbaric things last night,” said Ireland’s Foreign Minister Micheal Martin.

Egypt condemned the Israeli military’s “deliberate bombing of the displaced people’s tents,” state media reported, calling it a blatant violation of international law.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also condemned the Israeli attack, and Qatar said the attack on Rafah could hamper mediation efforts for a ceasefire and hostage exchange.

Israeli tanks have been probing the edges of Rafah, near the Gaza-Egypt border crossing, since May 6 and have entered some of the eastern districts.

Contributors: Dan Williams and James Mackenzie in Jerusalem; Jana Choukeir and Clauda Tanios and Mohammed Salem; Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber in Geneva; Tassilo Hummel.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Israeli attack on tent camp in Rafah leaves 45 dead