Israel faced widespread international condemnation on Monday after dozens of people in a camp for displaced civilians in Rafah were killed in what authorities in Gaza said was an Israeli air strike.
Palestinian health officials said at least 45 people had been killed and dozens more injured, after fires and explosions ripped through the crowded tent city in Rafah’s Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood, which housed people who had fled the fighting elsewhere in the besieged enclave.
Israel’s military prosecutor described the events as “very difficult”, adding that Israel was investigating the incident and regretted “any harm to uninvolved civilians”. The Israeli military had previously said it targeted a “Hamas compound” in the area and that two senior militants had been killed.
However, the deaths — which came just two days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to “immediately halt” its offensive in the southern Gaza city — sparked a wave of international criticism.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he was “outraged by the Israeli strikes that have killed many displaced persons in Rafah”.
“These operations must stop.
There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians.
I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire,” he wrote on X.
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