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Tel al-Sultan attack

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2024 israeli airstrike on refugee camp in Gaza
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Tel al-Sultan massacre
Part of the Rafah offensive and Refugee camp airstrikes in the Israel–Hamas war
File:Rafah displacement camp airstrike.webpThe camp on fire after the strike
LocationTel al-Sultan, Rafah, Gaza Strip
Date26 May 2024
~20:45 (UTC+02:00)
TargetHamas compound (per Israel)
'Brix' tent camp (per PRCS)
Attack typeAirstrikes, massacre (alleged)
Deaths45-50 civilians
2 Hamas officials (per Israel)
Injured250+ civilians
Perpetrators Israeli Air Force

On 26 May 2024, the Israeli Air Force bombed a displacement camp in western Rafah as part of its offensive in the city, killing between 45 and 50 people and injuring over 200. The attack was the deadliest incident of the Rafah offensive.

Previously, many refugees fled to Rafah because of evacuations of other parts of the Gaza Strip. When Israel invaded Rafah and ordered the evacuation of its east, some citizens fled to the west, seeking safety.

Israel claimed it struck a Hamas compound in Tel al-Sultan and killed two senior commanders, but the Palestine Red Crescent Society disputed this. The strike set the "Brix" tent camp aflame, trapping and burning the civilians residing in it.

Images of the attack spread internationally, with them being described as "some of the worst" of the war. The attack received widespread condemnation, with some groups calling it a war crime and a massacre. Israel later claimed the deaths were an accident stemming from its attack on the compound. The attack is currently "under review" by the Israel Defense Forces.

Background

After evacuation orders were issued by Israel during the Israel-Hamas war, many areas of Gaza became depopulated, with refugees primarily traveling to Rafah. Rafah became dense and overcrowded, with over 1.4 million civilians sheltering in the area. However, when Israel invaded the city, it ordered the eastern neighborhoods evacuated as well. An estimated 950,000 civilians fled, going to other parts of southern Gaza designated as safe, including western Rafah.

Two days before the attack, International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to prevent genocidal actions in Rafah. The Euro-Med Monitor reported that since the order was issued, Israel had launched over 60 airstrikes on the city in 48 hours. The order was widely interpreted as obliging Israel to stop the Rafah offensive, and the European Union said Israel was violating the order by continuing the offensive. However, Israel interpreted the order as merely to comply with international law, but not necessarily stop the offensive.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society asserted that the location had been designated by Israel as a "humanitarian area" and it was not included in areas that Israel's military ordered evacuated earlier this month.

Attack

Israeli fighter jets fired eight missiles at the "Brix" tent camp, located in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood of western Rafah, an area deemed humanitarian. The camp was 200 metres (660 ft) from the largest UNRWA humanitarian aid storage warehouse in the Gaza Strip. It claimed to have targeted a Hamas compound and to have killed two senior Hamas commanders; the West Bank Chief of Staff Yassin Rabia and senior official Khaled Nagar, "in accordance with international law". According to an initial Israeli investigation, civilian casualties were caused by a fire. Israel told the United States that it was caused when shrapnel struck a fuel tank 100 metres (330 ft) away, setting a tent on fire and then spreading. However the Palestinian Red Crescent said that the strikes directly targeted tents housing displaced people.

Israel claimed it had taken steps to limit civilian casualties during the strike. According to the IDF, two missiles whose warheads were "reduced in size" were used in the strikes. It also claimed that the strike took place outside of the humanitarian zone in the al-Mawasi region.

Victims

The Gaza Health Ministry (GHM) claimed the attack killed at least 45 people, and ActionAid UK said it killed 50. The GHM said that among the fatalities were at least 12 women, eight children, and three elderly. Doctors Without Borders claimed that dozens of civilians were injured, with the GHM eventually confirming 65 injuries. It later raised the amount of injuries to over 200.

Survivors of the attack said it "burned people alive" and destroyed an entire block. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said civilians were trapped in the flames. A video verified by NBC News showed Palestinians screaming for help in tents "engulfed by flames" with civil defense crews attempting to stop the fire. Another video showed volunteers trying to save people, with others displaying burnt corpses, including one of a child with their head torn off. Victims of the attack were rushed to the Emirati Hospital, however the GHM said that no hospital had enough resources to deal with the amount of injured people.

Investigation

Investigations into the attack began on 27 May. The initial IDF report was that shrapnel from its airstrike hit a fuel tank 100 metres (330 ft) away, igniting the fire. However, the U.S. said it had no way to validate this, and started its own inquiry.

Reactions

Domestic

Palestine

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad condemned the attack, labeling it a massacre and calling for the Palestinian people to "rise up and march" against Israel. A spokesperson for the Presidency of the Palestinian Authority condemned the incident, also calling it a massacre.

Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the incident was a "tragic mistake". The Israeli military said the attack was "under review", while its top military prosecutor Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi called the incident "very grave".

Two former Israeli journalists Yinon Magal and Naveh Dromi and rapper Yoav Eliasi praised the attack, which earned outrage from social media users.

International

Governments

Spain, Ireland, and Norway condemned the attack and urged Israel to halt the offensive in a joint statement.

  •  Belgium: Prime Minister Alexander De Croo called for further peace negotiations after the attack.
  •  Canada: A legislator and the leader of the New Democratic Party Jagmeet Singh posted a tweet after Images of the incident went viral: "Images of the IDFs airstrike hitting a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah are horrifying. Images so terrible I won’t share them. The world is failing the people of Gaza. Canada is failing the people of Gaza."
  •  Egypt: The country condemned the attack, again calling on Israel to halt the Rafah offensive.
  •  France: French politicians called for action against Israel for the attack, with one also calling it an "abominable massacre". President Emmanuel Macron said he was "outraged" at the attacks and again called for a ceasefire.
  •  Italy: Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said that violence against Palestinians was "no longer justifiable".
  •  Ireland: the Irish vice-prime minister said the attack was "barbaric" and urged Israel to halt the Rafah offensive.
  •  Norway: Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide stated that the Israeli attack on Rafah has "breached international law".
  •  Turkey: President Recep Erdoğan said condemned the attack, calling it "barbaric" and saying he would do "everything possible" to hold Israel to account.
  •  Qatar: The country warned that the strike could hinder ceasefire negotiations.
  •  Saudi Arabia: The country said that it "condemns in the strongest terms the continued massacres" carried out by Israeli forces in Gaza and that it "affirms its categorical rejection of the continued flagrant violations by the Israeli occupation forces of all international and humanitarian resolutions, laws, and norms".
  •  Spain: Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said the bombing of Rafah was "one more day with innocent Palestinian civilians being killed", adding that the gravity of the attack "is even larger" as it comes after the ICJ order directing Israel to halt its operations in Rafah and the rest of Gaza.
  •  UAE: The country condemned the attack and stressed that Israel had to follow the ICJ's ruling.
  •  United Kingdom: Jeremy Corbyn, the former UK Labour Party leader, called the attack a "monstrous failure of humanity", while the current leader of the Labour party Keir Starmer says that he will push for an end to the invasion of Gaza. The UK Foreign Office reiterated that it didn't support the Rafah offensive.
  •  United States: White House Office said it was aware of the reports and still gathering information. Later on 27 May, the Biden administration condemned the attack and began assessing whether the strike violated its "red line".

Supranational

  •  African Union: African Union Commission said the ICJ order must be "urgently enforced if global order is to prevail". Its chairman Moussa Faki wrote on X: "With horrific overnight airstrikes killing mostly Palestinian women & children trapped in a displacement camp in Rafah, the State of Israel continues to violate international law with impunity and in contempt of an ICJ ruling two days ago ordering an end to its military action in Rafah".
  •  European Union: Foreign policy chief Josep Borrell condemned the attack, saying that Israel's attacks needed to stop.
  •  United Nations: Francesca Albanese condemned the attack and calls it "unacceptable", she also stated that Israel must face sanctions to pressure them to stop.
  • UNRWA: The group calls the Gaza Strip a "hell on Earth" after the attacks, they also said that they lost contact to the staff in the area.

Humanitarian aid groups

  • International Committee of the Red Cross: A spokesperson for the group said there was a need to follow international law, and that Gaza's healthcare system couldn't handle the attack.
  • Doctors Without Borders: the group said the attack showed "nowhere in Gaza is safe" and reiterated its call for a ceasefire, with UNRWA drawing the same conclusion.
  • Palestine Red Crescent Society: the group noted that Israel forcibly displaced civilians into that area.
  • ActionAid UK: the group condemned the "inhumane, barbaric" attack.
  • MSF: the medical charity stated that it was "horrified" and condemned the attack.

A British doctor in the area said that videos of the attack were "truly some of the worst that I have seen".

Other

  • Council on American-Islamic Relations: The American-Muslim advocacy and civil rights organization condemned the attacks and demanded that US President Joe Biden stop arming Israel to embolden further attacks on civilians in the face of several prior attacks using US weapons. National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell stated in a news conference that Biden should not keep "shifting" and "cross his own red line" and "every red line of U.S. law, international law and basic human decency", and that him providing "military, financial, and diplomatic support" to these operations was staining all Americans "with the blood of innocent Palestinians".
  • Jewish Voice for Peace: the US-based Jewish advocacy group condemned the "massacre" carried out by Israel, stating that "the genocide must end".
  • Former first minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf wrote: "Bear witness to the images and ask yourself, are you on the right side of history?" After sharing the images of the incident.

See also

References

  1. Including at least 23 women and children
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