Palestinian health authorities said 35 civilians were killed on Sunday night in an Israeli strike on the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where Israel said it was targeting a Hamas compound.
Israel said that it killed two Hamas officials in the operation, and that it was investigating reports that civilians had died as a result of the strike and a fire that it ignited.
Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video, May 26, 2024. REUTERS/Reuters TV
The strike was part of a series of recent attacks on Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering, and follows an order by the International Court of Justice for Israel to stop operations that could lead to the complete or partial destruction of the Palestinian population in the city.
The Israeli military says it is seeking to root out Hamas leadership in Rafah. Earlier on Sunday, Hamas had used the area to launch eight rockets toward Israel’s densely populated central core , the first such attack in more than four months.
A person stands near the bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced people, during their funeral in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 27, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
More than 800,000 people have fled Rafah since the Israeli military ordered an evacuation of the eastern part of the city on May 6, but many remain in the city as they struggle to find shelter elsewhere.
The Israeli military said one of its aircraft struck a Hamas compound in Rafah where it said militants were operating. It said the strike used precise munitions and was based on intelligence.
The Israeli military named the two Hamas officials killed in the strike as Yassin Rabia and Khaled Nagar, who it said were behind several deadly attacks against Israel over the years. The Journal was unable to independently confirm their deaths.
The Sunday night strike took place in the western Rafah neighborhood of Tel Al-Sultan, just south of a stretch of beach called Al-Mawasi that Israeli authorities have designated as a humanitarian area, according to the Israeli military and some Palestinian eyewitnesses. One video of the incident, shared with The Wall Street Journal by the videographer, showed a fire igniting after an explosion in the dark.
A mourner reacts over the body of a Palestinian killed in an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced people, during a funeral in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, May 27, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
A Palestinian boy looks on at the site of an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced people, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, May 27, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Earlier this month, Israel’s military had instructed families in eastern Rafah to move to a humanitarian area that includes Al-Mawasi and neighborhoods west of the Salah al-Din Road that roughly bisects the Gaza Strip. The evacuation, which prompted many humanitarian workers in Rafah to also leave, didn’t encompass Tel Al-Sultan.
Emad Fakhry Jaber, a father who was sheltering in Tel Al-Sultan in a tent with his seven children, said the family heard a sudden explosion and saw the sky light up around 11 p.m. on Sunday. He said the destruction seemed to be centered not far from where he was, but that the family stayed put because they had nowhere else to go. Earlier in the month, he had tried to find a place to shelter in Al-Mawasi without success.
“My kids were crying, all my family was crying,” he said. “I am also afraid, but what can I do?” When day broke on Monday, Jaber said he saw several dead bodies being carried toward a makeshift medical point in Tel Al-Sultan.
Gaza’s health authority said early Monday that 190 civilians had been killed across the Gaza Strip over the preceding 24 hours, including the 35 killed in Tel Al-Sultan. The Israeli military said it struck 75 targets across Gaza in the past day, including weapons caches and other militant infrastructure.
In a statement, Hamas condemned what it described as a massacre targeting a tent settlement in western Rafah, calling on the international community to intervene and stop the Israeli offensive. The U.S. and Israel have said Hamas embeds its militants and infrastructure within civilian populations.
A man reacts next to the body of a Palestinian child killed in an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced people, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, May 26, 2024. REUTERS/Moaz Abu Taha
The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said that it wasn’t able to communicate with colleagues on the ground following the strike. “We are not able to confirm their location & are extremely concerned for their wellbeing, and the wellbeing of all the displaced people sheltering in this area,” it said on social-media platform X.
Write to Chao Deng at chao.deng@wsj.com
