Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday blamed a “tragic mistake” for displaced civilians getting killed in a tent city in Rafah, a strike that sparked widespread condemnation, even from key allies.
The prime minister addressed his parliament Monday as Hamas-run health officials reported Sunday’s attack on Gaza killed 45 people, including women and children — and as an Egyptian soldier was killed in a separate gunfight in the border region, further stoking tensions.
“Despite our utmost efforts not to harm innocent civilians, last night, there was a tragic mistake,” Netanyahu told the Knesset Monday of Sunday’s strikes sparking a giant blaze in the tent city.
“We are investigating the incident and will obtain a conclusion because this is our policy,” he added above shouted objections from opposition members.
Israel had initially called it a counterattack “against legitimate targets” after Hamas for the first time in months fired a barrage of rockets Sunday.
The strike eliminated Hamas’ chief of staff for the second and larger Palestinian territory, the West Bank, plus another official behind deadly attacks on Israelis, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said.
However, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry claimed that more than half of the dead were women, children, and elderly people who’d fled to the area after being displaced by violence elsewhere. The death toll will likely rise with many left with severe burns, according to those officials.
The Israeli military’s top legal official said authorities were examining the strikes and that the military regrets the loss of civilian life.
Still, Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi warned that such tragedies are inevitable “in a war of such scope and intensity.”
Rafah, which is on the border with Egypt, has been packed with over one million people who were displaced from other parts of Gaza earlier in the Israel-Hamas war.
Survivors said families were preparing to sleep when the strike hit the Tel Al-Sultan neighbourhood where thousands were sheltering after Israeli forces began a ground offensive in the east of Rafah over two weeks ago.
“We were getting our children’s beds ready to sleep. There was nothing unusual, then we heard a very loud noise, and fire erupted around us,” said Umm Mohamed Al-Attar, a Palestinian mother in a red headscarf.
Suddenly, they heard a missile and “all the children started screaming,” the mom recalled. “The sound was terrifying.”
The civilian deaths brought a new wave of condemnation, even from some of Israel’s close allies.
“These operations must stop,” French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X. “I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire.”
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said in a TV interview that such bombings are “spreading hatred, rooting hatred that will involve their children and grandchildren.”
Qatar, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas in attempts to secure a cease-fire and the release of hostages held by Hamas, said the Rafah strike could “complicate” talks.
The foreign ministry in Egypt — which separately announced the “martyrdom” of a soldier killed in gunfire in the region Monday — condemned the strike as a “new and blatant violation of the rules of humanitarian international law.”
Jordan’s Foreign Ministry called it a “war crime.”
The United Nation’s Middle East envoy, Tor Wennesland, said he was “deeply troubled” by the strikes and called upon Israel to “conduct a thorough and transparent investigation,” the Times of Israel reported.
The UN’s top court last week demanded Israel immediately halt the Rafah assault.
The US urged Israel to take more care to protect civilians, but stopped short of calling for a halt to the Rafah incursion.
“Israel has a right to go after Hamas, and we understand this strike killed two senior Hamas terrorists who are responsible for attacks against Israeli civilians,” a National Security Council spokesperson said.
“But as we’ve been clear, Israel must take every precaution possible to protect civilians.”
With Post wires