Gaza authorities say 40 dead as Israeli attacks set tents on fire

The Israeli army said two senior Hamas figures were killed in airstrikes late Sunday, hours after a rocket attack on Tel Aviv, and that it was also investigating reports of civilians killed in a fire.

The Israeli attack sparked violent protests in Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar. Qatar warned that the attack could “hinder” initial steps to revive stalled talks on a ceasefire and the release of hostages in the war between Israel and Hamas that has been raging since October 7.

Gaza’s civil defense said on Monday that many bodies were “charred” after the attacks sparked a fire in a refugee camp in northwest Rafah.

“The massacre carried out by the Israeli occupation army in the refugee tents northwest of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip left 40 martyrs and 65 injured,” said agency official Mohammad al-Mughayyir.

“We saw charred corpses and severed limbs… We also saw cases of amputations, injured children, women and elderly people.”

Footage released by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society showed chaotic nighttime scenes in which paramedics rushed to the burning attack site in ambulances and evacuated the injured, including children.

“We had just finished evening prayers,” recalled one survivor, a Palestinian woman who did not want to be named.

“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.”

The ICRC said one of its field hospitals was experiencing an “influx of injured and burned patients” and that “our teams are doing their best to save lives.”

After sunrise, AFP images showed the charred remains of makeshift tents and vehicles as Palestinian families looked at the blackened destruction.

The Israeli army said overnight that its planes had “hit a Hamas site in Rafah,” killing Yassin Rabia and Khaled Nagar, two senior figures of the Palestinian militant group in the occupied West Bank.

It added that it was “aware of reports that several civilians in the area were injured as a result of the attack and the fire that was set. The incident is currently under investigation.”

Mughayyir said rescue efforts had been hampered by war damage and the impact of Israel’s siege of the area in the conflict that has lasted for more than seven months.

“There is a shortage of fuel… roads are destroyed, which hampers the movement of civil defence vehicles in the affected areas,” he said. “There is also a lack of water to put out the fires.”

Egypt deplored the “targeting of defenseless civilians” and described them as part of a “systematic policy aimed at increasing the level of death and destruction in the Gaza Strip in order to make it uninhabitable.”

Jordan also condemned the incident and accused Israel of committing “ongoing war crimes.”

Kuwait said the attack had exposed Israel’s “blatant war crimes and unprecedented genocide to the entire world.”

And Qatar condemned the Israeli bombings as a “dangerous violation of international law.”

The attack came just hours after Hamas launched its first rocket attack in months on Tel Aviv and other areas of central Israel on Sunday, sending people fleeing to bomb shelters.

Although Israeli air defenses blocked most of the rockets and there were no casualties, the attack was seen as an attempt by Hamas to signal that it is still undefeated.

Hamas’s armed wing said it had attacked Tel Aviv “with a massive rocket attack in response to the Zionist massacres of civilians.”

Israel invaded Gaza in late October, but its ground forces are still fighting Hamas in the northern and central areas, where Hamas has regrouped, and around Rafah.

The United States, Israel’s main ally, has urged all sides to resume ceasefire talks, and efforts have been made in recent days to initiate new talks with mediators from the United States, Egypt and Qatar.

Following the recent violence, the Qatari Foreign Ministry expressed concern that the bombing could complicate ongoing mediation efforts and prevent an agreement on an immediate and lasting ceasefire.

After the night attacks, Hamas declared that Palestinians must “stand up and march.”

The attack on southern Israel on October 7 killed more than 1,170 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.

The militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom are still in the Gaza Strip. According to the army, 37 of them are dead.

According to the Health Ministry of the Hamas-controlled area, at least 35,984 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza.

The Israeli military said on Monday that its fighter jets had attacked and destroyed “over 75 terror targets” throughout the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours.

The United Nations has warned of a looming famine in the besieged Gaza Strip, where most hospitals are no longer functioning.

The bloodiest Gaza war in history and the rising number of civilian deaths have sparked a growing backlash against Israel around the world, including proceedings before two international courts in The Hague.

On Tuesday, Spain, Ireland and Norway are expected to officially recognize a Palestinian state – a step that has so far been taken by more than 140 UN members but only a few Western powers.

Israel accuses Madrid of this move amounting to a “reward for terrorism” and announced punitive measures against Madrid on Monday. The Israeli consulate in Jerusalem was ordered to stop providing consular services to Palestinians as of June 1.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz said: “Whoever awards Hamas and tries to establish a Palestinian terrorist state will not have any contact with the Palestinians.”

Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said on Sunday that recognition of statehood in Madrid would bring “justice for the Palestinian people and the best security guarantee for Israel.”

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