Gaza war: Israeli army says secondary explosion caused deadly fire in Rafah tent camp

The strike sparked widespread outrage, including from some of Israel's closest allies. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was the result of a “tragic accident.”

New strikes in the same district of Tel al-Sultan, west of Rafah, which was hit on Sunday, killed at least 16 Palestinians, the Palestinian Civil Defense and the Palestinian Red Crescent announced on Tuesday. Residents reported an escalation of fighting in the southern Gaza city, once considered the territory's last refuge.

An Israeli incursion launched in early May pushed nearly a million people to flee Rafah, most having already been displaced in the war between Israel and Hamas. They now seek refuge in squalid tent camps and other war-torn areas.

The United States and other allies of Israel have warned of a full-fledged offensive in the city, with the Biden administration saying it would cross a red line and refusing to provide offensive weapons for such an endeavor. The International Court of Justice on Friday called on Israel to end its offensive on Rafah, an order it has no power to enforce.

Netanyahu has pledged to move forward, saying Israeli forces must enter Rafah to dismantle Hamas and return hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war.

Israel says it is carrying out limited operations in eastern Rafah, along the Gaza-Egypt border. But residents reported intense shelling overnight in Tel al-Sultan.

“It was a night of horror,” said Abdel-Rahman Abu Ismail, a Palestinian from Gaza City who has taken refuge in Tel al-Sultan since December. He said he heard “constant sounds” of explosions overnight and into Tuesday, with fighter jets and drones flying over the area.

He said it reminded him of the Israeli invasion of his Shijaiyah neighborhood in Gaza City, where Israel launched an intensive bombing campaign before sending in ground forces in late 2023. “We've seen this before,” did he declare.

Sayed al-Masri, a resident of Rafah, said many families were forced to flee their homes and shelters, most heading to the crowded Muwasi area, where camps of giant tents were set up on a coast arid, or to Khan Younis, a southern city which suffered heavy damage during months of fighting.

“The situation is getting worse” in Rafah, al-Masri said.

The Gaza Health Ministry said two medical facilities in Tel al-Sultan were out of service due to intense shelling nearby. Palestinian Medical Aid, a charity operating across the territory, said the Tel al-Sultan medical center and Indonesian field hospital were on lockdown, with doctors, patients and displaced people stuck inside. interior.

Most hospitals in Gaza are no longer functioning. Kuwait's Rafah hospital closed its doors on Monday after a strike near its entrance killed two health workers.

A World Health Organization spokesperson said victims of Sunday's strikes and fires had “completely overwhelmed” the region's field hospitals, which were already short of supplies to treat serious burns.

“It requires intensive care, it requires electricity, it requires high-level medical services,” Dr. Margaret Harris told reporters in Geneva. “More and more, we are having trouble getting highly qualified doctors and nurses because they have been displaced. »

The war began when Hamas and other militants stormed into southern Israel in a surprise attack on October 7, killing some 1,200 civilians and kidnapping about 250. More than 100 were freed during of a one-week ceasefire in November in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Israel responded to the attack with a massive air, land and sea offensive that killed at least 36,096 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its tally. About 80 percent of Gaza's 2.3 million residents have been displaced and United Nations officials say parts of the territory are experiencing famine.

The fighting in Rafah has made it almost impossible for humanitarian groups to import and distribute aid to southern Gaza.

The Israeli military says it has allowed hundreds of trucks to enter through the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing since its operation began, but humanitarian groups say it is extremely difficult to access this aid from the Gaza side due to fights.

The UN says it has only been able to collect aid from around 170 trucks over the past three weeks through Kerem Shalom. Smaller amounts of aid are arriving through two crossings in the north and by sea via a floating jetty built in the United States, but they are far from the 600 trucks a day that aid groups say are needed.