Israeli forces fired about eight rockets toward tents in a newly established camp filled with thousands of displaced people near warehouses of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the Near East, Palestinian official news agency WAFA reports .
Local sources told Xinhua news agency that it was "a serious and unprecedented Israeli airstrike on an area densely populated with displaced families, tents made of plastic and tin, and civilian vehicles."
Video clips circulated on Facebook showed flames rising rapidly and engulfing the tents, where many people, including children and women, were still living.
Sources noted that civil defense and ambulance personnel face significant obstacles in retrieving bodies due to the difficult terrain.
Palestinian security sources told Xinhua that the area, populated by Gazans, was classified by the Israeli military as a "safe zone" before the attack.In a statement released Sunday night, Hamas condemned the bombing as "complete defiance and disregard for the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which demanded it to stop its aggression against Rafah."
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that "an IDF aircraft struck a Hamas compound in Rafah, which housed significant Hamas terrorists".
It added, "The attack was carried out against legitimate targets under international law, using precision weapons and based on accurate intelligence, indicating the use of the area by Hamas."
The Israeli airstrike came hours after the al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, launched a massive rocket barrage from Rafah toward the central Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv for the first time in months.
On 7 May, the Israeli army announced that it had taken control of the Palestinian part of the Rafah crossing, located south of the Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt and in the area east of Rafah, resulting in a halt to aid entering Gaza. Has been.,
Israel considers Rafah the last bastion of Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007.
Local sources told Xinhua news agency that it was "a serious and unprecedented Israeli airstrike on an area densely populated with displaced families, tents made of plastic and tin, and civilian vehicles."
Video clips circulated on Facebook showed flames rising rapidly and engulfing the tents, where many people, including children and women, were still living.
Sources noted that civil defense and ambulance personnel face significant obstacles in retrieving bodies due to the difficult terrain.
Palestinian security sources told Xinhua that the area, populated by Gazans, was classified by the Israeli military as a "safe zone" before the attack.In a statement released Sunday night, Hamas condemned the bombing as "complete defiance and disregard for the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which demanded it to stop its aggression against Rafah."
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that "an IDF aircraft struck a Hamas compound in Rafah, which housed significant Hamas terrorists".
It added, "The attack was carried out against legitimate targets under international law, using precision weapons and based on accurate intelligence, indicating the use of the area by Hamas."
The Israeli airstrike came hours after the al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, launched a massive rocket barrage from Rafah toward the central Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv for the first time in months.
On 7 May, the Israeli army announced that it had taken control of the Palestinian part of the Rafah crossing, located south of the Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt and in the area east of Rafah, resulting in a halt to aid entering Gaza. Has been.,
Israel considers Rafah the last bastion of Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007.
