Israel faced fierce international criticism on Monday after an airstrike in Gaza’s far-southern city of Rafah reportedly killed at least 40 people, most of them civilians, in a center for displaced people on Sunday night.
Israel said the strike targeted two senior Hamas terrorists. But the attack also apparently hit an area in Rafah’s Tel Al-Sultan neighborhood in western Rafah where thousands of people were taking shelter, setting blazes that engulfed several tents and shelters.
By Monday afternoon, the Hamas-run health ministry said that the death toll had risen to 40 and 65 people were wounded. The figures could not immediately be verified.
The Palestinian Authority’s presidency and Egypt both accused Israel on Monday morning of deliberately targeting the center for displaced people.
“The perpetration of this heinous massacre by the Israeli occupation forces is a challenge to all international legitimacy resolutions,” the PA presidency said in a statement, accusing Israeli forces of “deliberately targeting” the tents of displaced people.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a statement accusing Israel of deliberate “bombardment” of the displaced people center and calling on it to “implement the measures ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concerning an immediate cessation of military operations” in Rafah.
UN Foreign Policy Chief Joseph Borrell echoed the call for Israel to comply with Friday’s ICJ order for Israel to cease its operation in Rafah.
“This is really a dilemma how the international community can… force implementation of the decision,” he said.
Israeli officials said they consider the ICJ order to allow room for some operations in Rafah, rejecting interpretations that the court ruling required Israel to halt the offensive altogether.
Meanwhile, Hamas said late Sunday that Palestinians must “rise up and march” against the IDF’s “massacre” in Rafah.
“In light of the horrific Zionist massacre this evening committed by the criminal occupation army against the tents of the displaced… we call on the masses of our people in the West Bank, Jerusalem, the occupied territories, and abroad to rise up and march angrily against the ongoing Zionist massacre against our people in the sector,” the Palestinian terrorist group said in a statement.
The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, said on Monday that reports of attacks on families seeking shelter in Rafah were “horrifying.”
“Information coming out of Rafah about further attacks on families seeking shelter is horrifying,” UNRWA wrote on X.
“There are reports of mass casualties including children and women among those killed. Gaza is hell on earth. Images from last night are yet another testament to that.”
Qatar added that the strike could have diplomatic repercussions, saying it could hinder talks towards a truce and hostage release deal.
The foreign ministry voiced “concern that the bombing will complicate ongoing mediation efforts and hinder reaching an agreement for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.”
Italy said on Monday that Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians in Gaza were no longer justifiable, in one of the strongest criticisms Rome has made so far against Israel’s campaign.
“There is an increasingly difficult situation, in which the Palestinian people are being squeezed without regard for the rights of innocent men, women and children who have nothing to do with Hamas and this can no longer be justified,” Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto told SkyTG24 TV.
“We are watching the situation with despair.”
Saudi Arabia also condemned Israel’s attack on Rafah, “the latest of which is targeting the tents of displaced Palestinians near the warehouses of UNRWA northwest of Rafah,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.
The IDF confirmed on Sunday night that it had launched an airstrike on Rafah that evening but said that it had targeted a Hamas compound where senior officials had gathered.
“The attack was carried out against terrorists who are a target for attack, in accordance with international law, using precision munitions, and based on intelligence indicating the use of the area by Hamas terrorists,” the IDF said in a statement on Sunday night.
On Monday, the IDF’s chief prosecutor acknowledged that it was a “very grave” incident.
“The details of the incident are still under an investigation, which we are committed to conducting to the fullest extent,” Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi told a conference hosted by the Israel Bar Association on Monday. “The IDF regrets any harm to noncombatants during the war.”
Notably, the number of casualties was reported by the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, which has not distinguished between terrorists and civilians in its casualty reports throughout the war and has exaggerated numbers in previous cases.
The IDF’s Rafah operation is considered one of the final phases of its war with Hamas, which began on October 7 with the terrorist organization’s unprecedented attack on Israel in which some 1,200 people were murdered and 252 were taken hostage.
After largely eradicating Hamas battalions in northern and central Gaza, the IDF set its sights on the southern area where it said four battalions remained. However, Israel faced heavy international pressure not to launch the Rafah operation as most displaced people from the north and center had sought refuge in the south.
The IDF launched a smaller-scale operation than originally planned earlier this month, but the ICJ ordered Israel to cease the offensive as a result of a petition filed by South Africa. Israel has said that it does not consider itself to be bound by the decision and that it would continue the operation as it had no intention of committing genocide in Rafah.