The Gaza Media Office condemned the attack, describing it as a “Rafah massacre” and a clear signal to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the global community that assaults on Gaza’s civilians persist.
At least 40 people were killed and many others injured on Sunday night when Israeli forces targeted a camp for displaced people and residential houses in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, according to medical sources and officials.
The attack occurred near the logistics base of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in Tal al-Sultan, as reported by the Gaza Government Media Office. The office stated that Israeli aircraft used missiles and 2,000-pound bombs to strike several tents in the area.
Gaza’s civil defense force reported that it transported 50 individuals, both dead and injured, following the bombing.
The targeted area was home to at least 100,000 displaced people. The Palestine Red Crescent Society also confirmed that its ambulance crews were moving the victims to nearby medical centers.
Eyewitnesses described fires engulfing the area, which continued to burn.
The day after.
The camp of displaced Palestinians that was bombed by Israeli warplanes west of Rafah.
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— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 27, 2024
A Palestinian paramedic, speaking to Anadolu news agency, recounted the grim task of retrieving numerous child victims, including one child decapitated and others whose bodies were fragmented.
The Gaza Media Office condemned the attack, describing it as a “Rafah massacre” and a clear signal to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the global community that assaults on Gaza’s civilians persist.
The office highlighted that over the past 24 hours, more than 190 Palestinians had been killed or injured due to Israeli strikes on over 10 shelters for displaced people in Gaza.
The Israeli army acknowledged civilian casualties in the Rafah attack, claiming it had targeted a compound belonging to the Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas. The army’s statement noted that the attack and subsequent fire injured several uninvolved individuals and that the incident was under review.
Following the initial bombardment, Israeli warplanes struck two additional homes in Rafah, resulting in five more deaths and numerous injuries.
Palestinian medical sources reported that the overall death toll from Israeli airstrikes in Rafah on Sunday evening rose to 40, with dozens more injured.
The Gaza Health Ministry announced that hospitals in Rafah were unable to accommodate the influx of victims, with emergency crews overwhelmed and struggling to transport the dead and wounded due to inadequate medical facilities.
Civil defense crews try to put out fires following the Israeli bombing of displaced persons’ tents northwest of #Rafah. pic.twitter.com/cyEDryxOGt
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 27, 2024
Hamas: We Hold Biden Responsible
Hamas denounced the bombing, calling it a “heinous massacre” and a blatant defiance of the ICJ’s ruling demanding an end to Israeli aggression in Rafah.
In a statement, the Palestinian Resistance movement accused the US administration and President Joe Biden of bearing full responsibility for the massacre, citing American support for the invasion.
“We hold the American administration and President Biden in particular fully responsible for this massacre, which the zionist entity would not have committed without American support and the green light for it to invade Rafah, despite its being crowded with displaced citizens,” the statement said.
“We demand the immediate and urgent implementation of the decisions of the International Court of Justice, and pressure to stop this massacre and the shedding of the blood of innocent civilians, including children, women and the elderly,” it added.
A statement from the medical staff at the Emirati Hospital in #Rafah.
On May 26, 2024, in blatant defiance of International Court of Justice decisions and statements by US President Joe Biden, the Israeli occupation committed a heinous massacre in Rafah.
Despite global… pic.twitter.com/VhdyTVeJwW
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 27, 2024
In a separate statement, Hamas also called “on our people, our nation, and the free people of the world to escalate public activities of anger and pressure to stop the aggression and genocide war.”
“We also call on the peoples of our Arab and Islamic nation and the free peoples around the world to intensify the movement and activities denouncing the genocide war, and to put pressure to sever relations with this rogue entity that continues to disdain the international community and UN resolutions, especially the recent decision of the International Court of Justice, which demanded that it stop its aggression and invasion of Rafah,” the statement concluded.
Gaza Genocide
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 35,984 Palestinians have been killed, and 80,643 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
At least 40 Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed in one of the most heinous massacres carried out by the Israeli occupation forces in Rafah and the death toll is destined to rise, according to the Red Cross.
The Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas called for a… pic.twitter.com/7rV3shqDrj
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 27, 2024
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
(PC, AJA, Anadolu)
Israel got angrier by the public message of Abu Obeida yesterday on the capture of several IOF soldiers in a failed tunnel operation. Unfortunately for Netanyahu and his lunatic cohorts, the whole world is against them except for the USA who is a conspirator in their continued genocide of the Palestinians and looting and thievery of their land and resources. Let’s always pray for the success of the Resistance fighters towards a Free Palestine soonest.
If you look at the excuses the IDF put out during the Great March of Return for shooting unarmed civilians, there’s a certain sameness. They are not very imaginative. I suggest they try some rather more believable explanations – like “It was haggis mating season in Rafah, and we feared for our lives”, “One of our soldiers was mauled by a wild haggis, and we had to distract it’s attention or it would’ve mauled the lot of us”, “One of our soldiers faced a ferocious attack from his nose-hair-plucker, which had been infected with Stuxnet”, and the like – very, very believable compared with their usual tripe.