Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged on Monday that Israel had made a “tragic mistake” with an airstrike in Rafah, a city in southern Gaza, resulting in the deaths of at least 45 Palestinians. According to local officials cited by the Associated Press, the attack ignited a camp that was sheltering displaced Palestinians.
The airstrike, which followed a Hamas assault on Tel Aviv the previous Sunday, has intensified the growing global condemnation of Israel’s ongoing conflict with Hamas. Even Israel’s staunchest allies have expressed their outrage over the fatalities of the displaced individuals.
Despite facing intense scrutiny from international judicial bodies, Israel maintains that its actions comply with international law. Recently, there have been orders for Israel to cease its offensive operations in Rafah.
Earlier, Israel’s military announced that it had conducted an airstrike on a Hamas compound using “precise ammunition and based on accurate intelligence,” resulting in the deaths of two senior militants.
After the strike, which caused a fire in the Hamas facility, the military stated that it had initiated an investigation into the civilian casualties.
‘A Tragic Mistake Last Night’: Netanyahu on Israeli Strikes in Rafah
“Despite our best attempts to avoid harming innocent civilians, there was a tragic error last night,” Netanyahu stated on Monday while speaking in Israel’s parliament. “We are probing the incident and will reach a conclusion because this is our policy,” he continued.
Nevertheless, according to a BBC report, he emphasized that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) made their “utmost efforts not to harm those uninvolved” in the conflict and pledged to continue the fight against Hamas.
The Gaza Health Ministry reported that this particular strike, seemingly one of the conflict’s most lethal, brought the total Palestinian fatalities in the war to over 36,000, as noted by an AP report. The ministry does not separate fighters from civilians in its count.
Mohammed Abuassa hurried to the site of the incident in Tel al-Sultan, a northwestern neighborhood in Rafah, and mentioned that rescuers “pulled out the people who were in an unbearable state.”
“We retrieved children who were in fragments. We rescued both the young and the elderly. The fire at the camp was like nothing I’ve ever seen,” AP reported him saying.
The Gaza Health Ministry and the Palestinian Red Crescent rescue service reported that the latest Israeli strike resulted in the deaths of at least 45 individuals, comprising 12 women, eight children, and three seniors. Additionally, three other bodies were discovered charred beyond identification.
In the meantime, Egypt’s military reported that one of its soldiers lost his life during a firefight in Rafah. Subsequently, Israel announced it was communicating with Egyptian officials, with both parties confirming an ongoing investigation.
Rafah, located at the southern tip of Gaza near the Egyptian border, has been identified as a refuge for those who escaped the northern regions of Gaza following Israel’s counteroffensive against Hamas that started last October.
Hundreds of thousands are crammed into overcrowded tent camps in and around the city.
Netanyahu asserts that Israel needs to eliminate what he refers to as Hamas’ final battalions in Rafah. On Sunday, the militant faction fired a series of rockets from the city towards densely populated central Israel, triggering air raid sirens but resulting in no injuries.
