At least 21 dead and dozens injured in Israeli attacks on Rafah in Gaza Strip | Gaza News

Palestinian officials believe at least 12 women were among those killed in the attack on a tent camp for displaced people in al-Mawasi.

At least 21 people were killed and dozens more injured in Israeli attacks on a tent camp for displaced families near the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Palestinian health officials said, just days after a similar incident sparked worldwide condemnation.

At least 12 of those killed in Tuesday’s attack were women, medical officials in the Palestinian enclave said.

An Israeli military spokesman said: “At this point in time, we are not aware of this incident.”

The Israeli attack hit a tent camp in al-Mawasi, west of Rafah, an area designated by Israel as a humanitarian zone to which Palestinians should be evacuated for their own safety.

“Israeli forces have targeted another makeshift tent area, where mostly women and children were staying,” Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary reported from Deir el-Balah.

“There are no hospitals in Rafah. All the injured and bodies were taken to the International Medical Corps field hospital. There are no ambulances.”

Footage shared on social media and verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency Sanad appears to show several people dead and injured in an attack.

You can see people frantically caring for the bloody victims and covering the bodies of the dead with blankets.

Palestinian President Nabil Abu Rudeineh’s spokesman described the recent Israeli attack on Rafah as a “massacre” and called for the implementation of a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordering Israel to stop its offensive on Rafah.

Israel is continuing its offensive despite a ruling by the UN’s top court on Friday ordering a halt to the offensive, arguing that the court ruling gave Israel some leeway for military action in Rafah.

Kuwaiti hospital has to close

The attack on the refugee camp came two days after an attack on a camp in the Tal as-Sultan area near Rafah in which 45 Palestinians were killed. Following the attack, a fire quickly spread and razed the camp to the ground.

The Wafa news agency quoted the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) as saying that many of the dead were “burned alive” in their tents.

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Tuesday that Israel’s ammunition alone “could not” have caused the deadly fire.

“Our ammunition alone could not have started a fire of this magnitude,” Hagari said at a press conference on the preliminary results of the army’s investigation into the attack.

The Palestinian group that governs the Gaza Strip, Hamas, has called on the UN to intervene and stop Israeli attacks on the tents sheltering displaced families in Rafah.

“The international community, the UN Security Council and the ICJ must act urgently and take immediate measures to end these serious violations and protect civilians, including women and children,” Hamas said in a statement.

At its most crowded, Rafah was home to about 1.5 million people. Most of them are now on the move, trying to escape Israel’s tanks and airstrikes.

Aid organizations and the UN warned that the heavily criticized Rafah offensive would worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in the besieged and bombed enclave.

The forced displacement of Palestinians is making it increasingly difficult for aid workers to distribute scarce aid supplies to families suffering from catastrophic hunger.

Israel took control of the Palestinian side of the vital Rafah border crossing with Egypt on May 7, shortly after launching its long-threatened military offensive in the congested area.

The entry of humanitarian aid, including urgently needed fuel, continues to be blocked. Since Israel launched its latest attack on Gaza on October 7, only a small amount of aid has entered the Gaza Strip through the border crossing.

Lack of fuel and medicine has led to the closure of several hospitals in Gaza. The Kuwait Specialty Hospital was forced to cease operations due to Israeli attacks, Palestinian officials said on Tuesday, leaving only one hospital in operation in the city.