Dozens of people, several of them children and women, have been killed after Israeli missiles struck a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip which was in a designated ‘safe zone’.
Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said that many of those who died were “burned alive” inside their tents in the Tal as-Sultan area. Israel confirmed the attack, saying it struck a Hamas compound in Rafah. It acknowledged reports that civilians were wounded when a fire broke out and said the incident is under investigation.
The Gaza government’s media office said late on Sunday that at least 35 people had been killed and dozens have been injured in the ‘massacre’.
The air strikes came just two days after the International Court of Justice had ordered Israel to “immediately halt its military offensive in Rafah”.
Earlier on Sunday, Hamas launched a rocket attack on the Israeli city of Tel Aviv after months.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri described the attack in Rafah as a “massacre”, holding the United States responsible for aiding Israel with weapons and money.
The Government Media Office in Gaza said Israel used a 2,000-pound (907kg) bomb in the attack and that it marked the 10th Israeli assault on a displacement centre affiliated with the United Nations in the past 24 hours. It added that at least 190 people have been killed in the attacks.
