Netanyahu promised not to rest on his laurels in Rafah, saying that Israeli troops must enter the city to eliminate Hamas and return the hostages.
< p>Israeli shelling and airstrikes killed at least 37 people, most of them hiding in tents, outside the southern Gaza city of Rafah on the night of May 27, according to witnesses, rescue workers and hospital staff. area where a deadly fire broke out in a camp for displaced Palestinians a few days ago
The Associated Press writes about this.
Hellfire
The inferno at the tent camp sparked widespread international outrage, including from some of Israel's closest allies, over the expansion of the military offensive on Rafah. And in a sign of Israel's growing isolation on the world stage, Spain, Norway and Ireland officially recognized the Palestinian state on May 28.
The Israeli military speculates that Sunday's fire in the tent city could have been caused by secondary explosions, possibly from weapons of Palestinian militants. The results of the initial investigation into the fire were released Tuesday, and military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the cause of the fire was still under investigation but involved Israeli munitions that the army said were aimed at a position containing two senior Hamas militants. cause a fire.
The impact or subsequent fire could also ignite fuel, gas canisters, or other materials in the camp. Gaza health officials estimate that the fire killed 45 Palestinians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the fire was the result of a “tragic accident.”
“Night of Terror” and numerous blows to Rafah
Israel's attack on Rafah, launched on May 6, has forced more than 1 million people to flee the city, the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees said Tuesday. Most of them have been displaced more than once during the nearly eight-month war between Israel and Hamas. Families are now scattered in makeshift tent camps and other war-torn areas.
Strikes over the past few days have targeted areas west of Rafah where the military has not ordered the evacuation of civilians. Israeli ground troops and tanks operate in eastern Rafah, in the central parts of the city and along the border between Gaza and Egypt.
According to the Palestinian Civil Defense and the Palestinian Red Crescent, shelling occurred in the western Rafah district of Tel al-Sultan, killing at least 16 people. The seven dead were in tents near the UN site about 200 meters from the site of Sunday's fire.
“It was a night of horror,” said Abdel-Rahman Abu Ismail, a Palestinian from Gaza City who has been hiding in Tel al-Sultan since December. He said he heard “constant sounds” of explosions night and day, and fighter jets and drones flying overhead.
The husband said it reminded him of the Israeli invasion of his Shijaya neighborhood in Gaza City, where Israel launched a massive bombing campaign before sending in ground troops in late 2023. “We've seen this before,” he added.
Israel and crossing the “red lines”
The United States and other Israeli allies have warned against a full-scale offensive on the city, and the Biden administration has said that would cross a red line and has refused to provide offensive weapons for such an operation. US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller gave no indication that the administration believes Israel is crossing any of the “red lines” regarding Rafah, saying the offensive is still on a “much different” scale than attacks on other population centers in Gaza.
Last week, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to stop its offensive on Rafah as part of a South African case accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
On May 28, Algeria circulated a draft UN Security Council resolution demanding an end to hostilities in Rafah and plans to put it to a vote this week. The US vetoed several ceasefire resolutions in Gaza.
The situation is getting worse
An Israeli drone struck tents near a field hospital on the Mediterranean coast west of Rafah, killing at least 21 people, including 13 women, Gaza's health ministry said.
Witness Ahmed Nassar said the strike killed four of his cousins, some of their men and children, and destroyed or damaged several tents. Most of those who lived in this tent fled the same area of Gaza City at the beginning of the war.
“They're not involved in anything,” he said.
Netanyahu vowed not to rest on his laurels in Rafah, saying Israeli troops must enter the city to eliminate Hamas and return hostages taken in the October 7 attack that sparked the war.
In its investigation into Sunday's deadly strike and shooting, the Israeli military released satellite photos of what it said was a Hamas rocket launch site located about 40 meters from the area of barns targeted in the attack. The photo shows that the launcher itself was not hit.
Israeli warplanes used the smallest bombs, Netanyahu said, with two 17-kilogram warheads. “Our ammunition alone would not be able to cause a fire of this size,” he noted.
Hagari said the fire was a “devastating incident that we did not expect” and broke out due to “unforeseen circumstances.”
However, the strikes triggered a flight from areas west of Rafah. Saeed al-Masri, a Rafah resident, said many families were heading to the crowded Muwasi district or to Khan Younis, a southern city that has suffered extensive damage during months of fighting.
“The situation in Rafah is getting worse,” al-Masri said.
What's wrong with medicine
Gaza's health ministry said two medical facilities in Tel al-Sultan were closed due to heavy bombing nearby. The charity Medical Relief for Palestinians, which operates throughout Gaza, said a medical center in Tel a-Sultan and an Indonesian field hospital were sealed off, with medics, patients and displaced people trapped.
Most of Gaza's hospitals are no longer functioning. Kuwait's Rafah Hospital closed on Monday after two health workers died during a strike outside its entrance.
A World Health Organization spokesman said victims of Sunday's strike and shelling had “absolutely overwhelmed” field hospitals in the area, which are already facing shortages of medical supplies to treat severe burns.
“It requires intensive care, it requires electricity, it requires high-level medical services,” Dr. Margaret Harris told reporters in Geneva. “We are increasingly faced with the problem of a lack of highly qualified doctors and nurses because they were forced to leave their homes.”
Humanitarian problem
The war began when Hamas and other militants suddenly swept into southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 civilians and kidnapping about 250. More than 100 were released during a week-long truce in November in exchange for Palestinians.
Israel responded to the attack with a massive air, land and sea offensive that killed at least 36,096 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, which does not differentiate between militants and civilians in its tally. About 80% of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been forced to flee their homes, and UN officials say parts of the territory are facing famine.
The fighting in Rafah has made it nearly impossible for humanitarian organizations to bring in and distribute aid to southern Gaza.
The Israeli military says it has allowed hundreds of trucks to enter through the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing since the start of the operation, but aid groups say the fighting has made access to that aid from Gaza extremely difficult .
According to the UN, in the last three weeks only 170 truckloads of aid have been collected through Kerem Shalom. Smaller amounts of aid also arrived through two checkpoints in the north and by sea through a US-built floating pier, but nowhere near the 600 trucks a day that aid groups say is needed to provide relief. And the pier itself is being removed for repairs.
Recall, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel “will remain alone” in the war against the Hamas group if necessary.< /p>
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