‘People Burned Alive’ As Israel Attacks Designated Safe Zone in Rafah
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Dozens of people have been killed and dozens more injured after Israeli missiles struck a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip which was in a designated safe zone.
The Wafa news agency, quoting the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), said that many of those who died were “burned alive” inside their tents in the Tal as-Sultan area.
It put the death toll at 40, while the Reuters news agency quoted Ashraf al-Qudra, the spokesman for Gaza’s Ministry of Health, saying 35 people had been killed and dozens others injured.
Witnesses told local media that at least eight missiles had struck the camp on Sunday at about 8:45 pm local time (17:45 GMT).
Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency said the attacks targeted the Brix camp to the west of the city of Rafah. An aerial photograph taken on May 24 shows hundreds of tents in the area, which was close to a UNRWA warehouse.
The Israeli attack followed Hamas’s first rocket attack on Tel Aviv in months.
Israel said the eight Hamas rockets were launched from the Rafah area, where its forces have continued a ground assault despite an order from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to halt operations there.
The Israeli military said its air force struck a Hamas compound in Rafah and that the strike was carried out with “precise ammunition and on the basis of precise intelligence”.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said its field hospital in Rafah was receiving an influx of casualties and that other hospitals also were taking in a large number of patients.
At least 35,984 Palestinians have been killed and up to 80,643 people have been wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7, 2023.
