An Israeli airstrike triggered a fire that killed 45 people in a tent camp in the Gazan city of Rafah, officials said on Monday.
This has caused an outcry from global leaders who urged the implementation of a World Court order to halt Israel’s assault.
Palestinian families rushed to hospitals to prepare their dead for burial after a strike late on Sunday night set tents and rickety metal shelters ablaze.
CAUSE OF FIRE
Meanwhile, Israel’s military, which is trying to eliminate Hamas in Gaza, said it was investigating reports that a strike it carried out against commanders of the Islamist militant group in Rafah had caused the fire.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strike had not been intended to cause civilian casualties.
‘In Rafah, we already evacuated about 1 million non-combatant residents and despite our utmost effort not to harm non-combatants, something unfortunately went tragically wrong,’ he said in a speech in parliament that was interrupted by shouting from opposition lawmakers.
HOW THE STRIKE HAPPENED
Survivors said families were preparing to sleep when the strike hit the Tel Al-Sultan neighbourhood where thousands were sheltering after Israeli forces began a ground offensive in the east of Rafah over two weeks ago.
‘We were praying… and we were getting our children’s beds ready to sleep. There was nothing unusual, then we heard a very loud noise, and fire erupted around us,’ said Umm Mohamed Al-Attar, a Palestinian mother in a red headscarf.
‘All the children started screaming… The sound was terrifying; we felt like the metal was about to collapse on us, and shrapnel fell into the rooms.’
The video footage obtained showed a fire raging in the darkness and people screaming in panic. A group of young men tried to haul away sheets of corrugated iron and a hose from a single fire truck began to douse the flames.
WHAT HEALTH OFFICIALS SAID
More than half of the dead were women, children, and elderly people, health officials in Hamas-run Gaza said, adding that the death toll was likely to rise from people with severe burns.
Medics later said an Israeli airstrike on Monday on a house in Rafah had killed seven Palestinians, with several others wounded.
Israel’s military said Sunday’s strike, based on ‘precise intelligence’, had eliminated Hamas’ chief of staff for the second and larger Palestinian territory, the West Bank, plus another official behind deadly attacks on Israelis.
