Tragedy in Rafah: Israel’s Attack on Refugee Camp
The ongoing war of Israel against Gaza has taken an intense turn that has resulted in human losses. Over the last few months, many civilians of both sides have perished and the toll of the death is rapidly increasing. In the latest development of this ongoing situation, Israel has once again attacked Gaza which took the lives of more than 35 people and several got severely injured. The reports state that an Israeli air strike was made on a refugee camp of Rafah in Gaza where 45 people have perished including children. The unfortunate events unfolded just days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to put a full stop to its operation in Rafah. This incident has triggered international outrage and deepened the global isolation facing Israel over the battle in Gaza.
The report states that airstrikes and bombing on Rafah by Israel were made on Tuesday, 28 May 2024. As we mentioned above, the incident resulted in the death of more than 37 Palestinians. During a media interaction, witnesses, hospital officials and emergency workers most of the deceased were sheltering in tents located outside the southern Gaza city of Rafah. This incident received widespread international condemnation and people are condemning Israel for the inferno at the tent camp of Rafah. Moreover, some of the closest allies of Israel have also expressed their disbelief and outrage over the expanded offensive of the military into Rafah.
Moreover, as a sign of the increasing isolation of Israel on the global stage, Ireland, Spain and Norway formally recognised a Palestinian state on Tuesday. Speaking of the incident, The Israeli military said that secondary explosions, possibly caused by weapons that belonged to Palestinian militants, may have started the fire at the tent camp on Sunday. In addition, the air attack or the following fire could have ignited fuel, cooking gas canisters, or other materials in the camp. As per Gaza health officials, 45 civilians in Palestine have perished. Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel called out the incident as a “tragic mishap”.
In a shared report by AFP, During the submission of a draft resolution, Algeria urged the members of the UN Security Council to put an end to the offensive of Israel in Rafah and an “immediate ceasefire”. Moreover, the attack of Israel on Rafah began on 6 May and forced one million civilians to run away from the city for their lives, a UN agency aiding Palestinian refugees stated on Tuesday. It is worth noting that the war was started after Hamas-led militant groups launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. The incident involved a barrage of numerous thousand rockets concurrent to an estimated 3,000 militants breaching the Gaze-Israel barrier and striking Israeli civilian communities and military bases.
Speaking of the current scenario of war, several of the individuals had already been displaced numerous times during the around eight-month war of Israel on Gaza. This displacement has resulted in the scattering of families across makeshift tent camps. Moreover, several areas are brutally affected by the battle. Late Monday and early Tuesday, bombards targeted Rafah’s western Tel al-Sultan district, resulting in the demise of more than 16 individuals, as per the report of Palestinian Civil Defense and the Palestinian Red Crescent. While describing the incident, Abdel-Rahman Abu Ismail states “It was a night of horror”. Abdel is a Palestinian from Gaza City. He has been living in the shelters of Tel al-Sultan since December.