Israel Hamas War News Live: Dozens killed in Israeli airstrike on Rafah

An Egyptian soldier was killed during a clash with Israeli troops at a Gaza border crossing on Monday while an Israeli airstrike on Sunday killed at least 40 Palestinians at a camp for displaced people, further inflaming regional tensions over the Israel-Hamas war.

Egypt’s military confirmed that a border guard died at the Rafah border crossing on Monday, in bloodshed that threatened to escalate tensions with Israel.

Separately, the airstrike at the camp northwest of the Gazan city of Rafah drew international condemnation. Israel acknowledged the death of dozens of people in the strike, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called “a tragic mistake” in an address to the Knesset.

Bloomberg

vIsrael faced international criticism on Monday after a strike in Gaza reportedly killed 45 people and caused a fire that swept through a tent city for displaced Palestinians.

Israel stated it was investigating the “grave and awful” impact on civilians after this latest incident in the ongoing Gaza war, which began on October 7.

Tensions increased further with a “shooting incident” reported on Monday by the Israeli and Egyptian militaries. This incident, in the border area between Egypt and southern Gaza, resulted in the death of one Egyptian guard. Both forces are investigating the incident.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged Monday that a “tragic mistake” had been made after an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah set fire to a tent camp housing displaced Palestinians and killed at least 45 people, according to local officials. Read More

The European Union agreed in principle on Monday to revive an EU civilian mission at Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip next to Egypt, but said it would need accords from all sides to press ahead, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

Speaking at a monthly meeting of EU foreign ministers, Borrell also accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of using false claims of antisemitism against the International Criminal Court (ICC) for his own political ends.

The UN human rights chief voiced “horror” Monday at a deadly Israeli air strike on a displacement camp in Rafah in the south of the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, demanding “accountability”.

“The images from the camp are horrific and point to no apparent change in the methods and means of warfare used by Israel that have already led to so many civilian deaths,” Volker Turk said in a statement.

He voiced his “horror at the further loss of civilian life in Gaza”, the statement said.

Israel has faced a wave of international condemnation over Sunday’s strike on the Al Hashash area in Rafah, which according to Gaza officials killed 45 people when the strike set off a fire that ripped through a tent city for displaced Palestinians.

The United States urged Israel on Monday to take every precaution to protect civilians after “devastating images” from a military strike in Rafah that killed dozens of Palestinians.

“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.

Israel faced new condemnation Monday for strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah that local health officials said killed at least 45 Palestinians, including displaced people living in tents that were engulfed by fire. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there had been a “tragic mistake” and that Israel was investigating.

Israel has faced surging international criticism over its war with Hamas, with even some of its closest allies, particularly the United States, expressing outrage at civilian deaths. Israel insists it adheres to international law even as it faces scrutiny in the world’s top courts, one of which last week demanded that it halt the offensive in Rafah.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday a deadly strike that hit a displacement camp in Gaza’s Rafah was a “tragic incident” which his government was “investigating”.

“In Rafah, we evacuated a million uninvolved residents, and despite our best efforts a tragic incident happened yesterday (Sunday),” Netanyahu told parliament, adding that “we are investigating the case and will draw the conclusions” after Gaza officials reported 45 dead as the Israeli strike caused a fire.

An Egyptian soldier was killed in a clash with Israeli forces at the Rafah border crossing, in a potentially a major escalation in tensions between the two nations.

Egypt’s military confirmed a border guard died on Monday. The Israel Defense Forces said “a shooting incident occurred on the Egyptian border,” without giving any more detail. “The incident is under review and discussions are being held with the Egyptians.”

Israel’s Army Radio said Egyptian troops first opened fire at Israeli soldiers at the border post between Gaza and Egypt.

Men cleared away the charred debris of shelters and children salvaged food in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah on Monday after an Israeli strike torched a camp for displaced Palestinians.

“People were not just injured or killed, but charred,” 24-year-old Mohammed Hamad told AFP in the aftermath of the strike that killed at least 45 people.

“My cousin’s daughter, a child no more than 13, was among the martyrs. She had no features at all because shrapnel tore off her face.”

Israel’s military said its aircraft “struck a Hamas compound in Rafah” on Sunday night, killing two senior officials for the Palestinian militant group in the occupied West Bank.

An Israeli air strike on Rafah that killed 45 people in a displacement camp according to Hamas officials reflected “contempt” for a recent ruling by the top UN court, the head of the African Union Commission said Monday.

Israel faced new condemnation on Monday for strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah that local health officials said killed at least 45 Palestinians, including displaced people living in tents that were engulfed by fire.

Israel has faced surging international criticism over its war with Hamas, with even some of its closest allies, particularly the United States, expressing outrage at civilian deaths. Israel asserts that it adheres to international law even as it faces scrutiny in the world’s top courts, one of which last week demanded that it halt its offensive in Rafah.

Israel’s latest strikes on a displaced people’s camp near Gaza’s southern city of Rafah could hinder talks towards a truce and hostage release deal, mediator nation Qatar said on Monday.

The foreign ministry voiced “concern that the bombing will complicate ongoing mediation efforts and hinder reaching an agreement for an immediate and permanent ceasefire”.

Qatar, alongside the United States and Egypt, has been engaged in months of talks aimed at securing a truce deal between Israel and Hamas in the devastated Gaza Strip.

But behind-the-scenes negotiations reached a stalemate earlier this month as Israel sent ground forces into Rafah.

Israel is looking into ‘grave’ Rafah strike that caused civilian casualties, the Israeli government said on Monday.

Initial findings of an Israeli investigation into a mass-casualty event in the Gazan city of Rafah are that an air strike against Hamas commanders set off a fire which killed Palestinian civilians, government spokesperson Avi Hyman said on Monday.

Death toll in Israeli airstrike at Rafah mounted to 45 on Monday evening.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday said he was “outraged” over Israel’s latest strikes on Rafah that killed dozens of displaced persons.

“These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians,” Macron said on social network X.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that his country would do “everything possible” to hold “barbaric” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to account over deadly strikes in Rafah.

A U.N. court’s order that Israel halt its offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah has deepened a disconnect with the United States over a military operation that faces mounting international condemnation but that American officials describe, at least for now, as limited and targeted.

The decision Friday by the International Court of Justice in The Hague adds to the pressure facing an increasingly isolated Israel, coming just days after Norway, Ireland and Spain said they would recognize a Palestinian state, and the chief prosecutor of a separate international court sought arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as leaders of Hamas.

The European Union aims to agree in principle on Monday to press ahead with an EU border mission at Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip abutting Egypt, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

Speaking before a monthly meeting of EU foreign ministers, Borrell also accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of using false claims of antisemitism against the International Criminal Court (ICC) for his own political ends.

At least 40 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike at a camp for displaced people in the southern city of Rafah late Sunday, the Hamas-run ministry of health said.

The strike came two days after the International Court of Justice issued a ruling that many interpreted as ordering Israel to halt its operations so as to save civilians.

The Israeli military said it carried out the strike based on “precise intelligence” against “legitimate targets under international law” and that it killed two “senior” Hamas officials responsible for operations in the West Bank.

Saudi Arabia 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.

Israel’s top military prosecutor described the air strike as “very grave” on Monday and said an investigation by the armed forces continued.

Egypt on Monday condemned what it called the “deliberate bombardment by Israeli forces of displaced peoples’ tents” in Rafah, in strikes which Gaza’s civil defence agency said killed at least 40 people.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a statement calling on Israel to “implement the measures ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concerning an immediate cessation of military operations” in Rafah.

The ministry condemned the strike as “a new flagrant violation of the provisions of international humanitarian law”.

It deplored the “tragic event” and denounced the “targeting of defenceless civilians” and “a systematic policy aimed at widening the scope of death and destruction in the Gaza Strip to make it uninhabitable”.

Israel Hamas War News Live: EU members Ireland and Spain, and also Norway, have said they will recognise a Palestinian state from Tuesday, drawing furious Israeli condemnation.

“In order to make peace, we need a strong Palestinian Authority, not a weaker one,” said the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, who met in Brussels with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa.

Mustafa, whose government is based in the occupied West Bank, said the “first priority” was to support the people in Gaza, especially through a ceasefire, and then “rebuilding the institutions of the Palestinian Authority” in the territory after Hamas seized it from the PA in 2007.

(AFP)

Israel Hamas War News Live: Recent conflict has focused on Rafah, where Israel’s military initiated a ground operation in early May, despite significant opposition due to concerns for the safety of civilians seeking refuge there.

The Palestinian Authority presidency in the West Bank denounced it as a “heinous massacre,” alleging that Israeli forces intentionally targeted the tents housing displaced individuals.

According to Gaza’s civil defence agency, Israeli airstrikes resulted in the deaths and injuries of at least 50 people in the region, where approximately 100,000 displaced individuals reside.

(AFP)