Gaza Ministry reports at least 35 dead in attack on civilian tents in Rafah

Nearly three dozen people were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday evening. The attack hit an area where internally displaced people were reportedly sheltering in tents, Palestinian health officials said.

Gaza’s Health Ministry reported at least 35 people dead in the attack on the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood, most of them women and children. The Palestinian Red Crescent warned that the number of victims could rise, as many were trapped in the flames that broke out after the bombardment.

“It is important to note that this location has been designated as a humanitarian area by the Israeli occupation forces and citizens have been forced to evacuate there,” the humanitarian and medical aid organization said.

Médecins Sans Frontières, known in English as Doctors Without Borders, said at least 15 dead and dozens of injured had been taken to a trauma stabilization unit supported by the organization.

“We are appalled by this deadly event, which once again shows that nowhere is safe,” the organization said. “We continue to call for an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza.”

Footage shared on social media and verified by NBC News shows a campsite ablaze as screaming Palestinians fled for their lives and civil defense crews worked to extinguish the blaze.

Video showed an apparently unconscious man being dragged by his feet from a walled area. Two men pulled him out and then went back into the flames, apparently to find more people.

Other videos from the scene showed disturbing images, including badly burned bodies and a man holding the headless body of a small child.

The Israel Defense Forces said the attack targeted two Hamas leaders who They said they were responsible for organizing terrorist attacks in the occupied West Bank. They were aware of reports that civilian tents were set on fire during the attack and said the incident was being “investigated.”

“The attack was directed against legitimate targets under international law,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement, adding that they used “precise munitions” based on “precise intelligence indicating that Hamas was using the area.”

In a statement, Hamas called the attack a gruesome “massacre.” The death of the commander or senior leader was not confirmed.

Earlier on Sunday, Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, announced a rocket attack in response to the “Zionist massacres of civilians.” The Israeli military said it had identified eight missiles that had entered Israeli territory from the Rafah area and that several missiles had been intercepted by Israeli air defenses.

An NBC News reporter observed one of these intercepts after sirens sounded in Israel for the first time in several weeks, warning people of an attack. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage in the area.

The attack came just two days after the International Court of Justice, a United Nations body, ordered Israel to halt its military assault on Rafah because Palestinians in the border town were in “imminent danger.” In his ruling, Judge Nawaf Salam, president of the ICJ, said Israel had failed to adequately address and allay concerns raised by its offensive.

Before Israel expanded operations in Rafah earlier this month, more than a million civilians are believed to have sought refuge in the city after it was declared a safe zone at the start of the war. According to the International Court of Justice ruling, at least 800,000 people were forced to leave the area earlier this month, but many more remain.

An Israeli official told NBC News on Friday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting with legal advisers to review the ruling. The ruling, which the ICJ cannot enforce, is unlikely to stop Israel’s actions because Netanyahu’s government had previously condemned South Africa’s lawsuit.

Netanyahu has faced growing criticism internationally and domestically over the way Israel is conducting the war, which began after the October 7 Hamas-led attack that officials said killed an estimated 1,200 people. About 250 others were taken hostage, and about half of them are believed to still be in Gaza. About a quarter of the remaining hostages are believed to be dead.

According to local health authorities, more than 35,000 people have been killed in the last seven months of war in Gaza. Aid organizations warn of dire conditions for civilians who lack access to food and clean water, leading to a rapid spread of disease and famine in some areas of the enclave.

Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have vowed to continue the war until Hamas is eliminated and all hostages are brought home, but a group of family members urged the government to agree to a hostage release deal with Hamas.