AFP (“Israel faces global outcry over Rafah strike that set tent city ablaze“):
Israel faced a wave of international condemnation Monday over a strike that Gaza officials said killed 45 people when it set off a fire that ripped through a tent city for displaced Palestinians.
Israel said it was looking into the “tragic accident” and its impact on civilians after the latest mass casualty event in the Gaza war, which has raged since October 7.
Adding to already heightened tensions since Israel launched a ground operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah in early May, the Israeli and Egyptian militaries reported a “shooting incident” Monday that killed one Egyptian guard in the border area between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip.
Both forces said they were investigating.
Israel’s military said Sunday evening’s attack in the southern Rafah area had targeted and killed two senior Hamas operatives — but it also sparked a fire that Palestinians and many Arab countries condemned as a “massacre”.
A US National Security Council spokesperson said Israel “must take every precaution possible to protect civilians”.
The Israeli military said it was launching a probe.
“There is no safe place in Gaza. This horror must stop,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres posted on social media, as diplomats said the UN Security Council will convene Tuesday in an emergency session to discuss the attack.
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Israel launched the attack on Rafah late Sunday, hours after Hamas unleashed a barrage of rockets at the Tel Aviv area, most of which were intercepted.
Israel’s army said its aircraft “struck a Hamas compound in Rafah” and killed Yassin Rabia and Khaled Nagar, senior officials for the militant group in the occupied West Bank.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said the strike ignited a fire that tore through a displacement centre in northwestern Rafah near a facility of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
“We saw charred bodies and dismembered limbs … We also saw cases of amputations, wounded children, women and the elderly,” said civil defence agency official Mohammad al-Mughayyir.
Axios (“White House assessing if Israel violated ‘red line’ with Rafah strike“):
The Biden administration is still assessing whether an Israeli strike that killed at least 45 displaced Palestinians at a tent camp in Rafah on Sunday is a violation of President Biden’s “red line,” two U.S. officials told Axios.
Why it matters: Biden threatened earlier this month to suspend the delivery of some U.S.-made offensive weapons if Israel entered population centers in Rafah, the city in southern Gaza viewed as Hamas’ last stronghold.
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Driving the news: The Israel Defense Forces announced on Monday that it opened an operational investigation into the airstrike. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the civilian deaths “a tragic mistake.”
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What they’re saying: “The devastating images following the IDF strike in Rafah last night that killed dozens of innocent Palestinians are heartbreaking. Israel has a right to go after Hamas … but as we’ve been clear, Israel must take every precaution possible to protect civilians,” the [US NSC] spokesperson said.
Behind the scenes: In the days before the catastrophic air strike, White House officials felt they had managed to significantly influence Israel’s operational plans for Rafah in a way that would prevent mass civilian casualties, according to three U.S. officials.
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Between the lines: The IDF said the strike was carried out based on prior intelligence that pointed to the presence of senior Hamas officials who were planning attacks in the West Bank.
- An Israeli defense official said the strike was conducted by a fighter jet that used “two munitions with a reduced warhead,” which they said are intended specifically for a strike of these types of targets.
- The official said the bombs were dropped roughly 40 meters from the tent camp and most likely caused the fire that killed dozens of Palestinians.
“Before the strike, a number of steps were taken to reduce the risk of harming uninvolved civilians during the strike, including conducting aerial surveillance, the deployment of precise munitions by the Israeli air force, and additional intelligence,” the IDF said.
- “Based on these measures, it was assessed that there would be no expected harm to uninvolved civilians. The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved civilians during combat.”
Objectively, a tent in the vicinity of a legitimate military target catching fire is collateral damage. But Israel is not starting with the presumption of a good faith actor, given that the Biden administration warned that attacking Rafah would cross a “red line” and the ICJ has ordered a halt to the operation.
Biden has grown increasingly exasperated with Netanyahu’s belligerence and there is a lot of pressure from within the Democratic coalition—indeed, within his own administration—to stop supporting this war. But, as I noted at the time, drawing red lines one doesn’t intend to act upon is foolish.
