Israeli airstrikes near Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday night provoked intense reactions from Palestinians, with Hamas “health authorities” – a.k.a. terrorists – reporting that 35 people were killed and dozens were injured in the attack and a resulting fire in a camp housing displaced civilians.
Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces stated that they had targeted a Hamas facility and eliminated two commanders within the terror organization’s ranks.
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that the strikes targeted “displaced persons’ tents near the United Nations headquarters northwest of Rafah,” claiming that this area had been designated as a humanitarian zone by Israel. A spokesperson indicated that the death toll could increase. According to the Hamas-run health ministry, most of the victims were women and children.
The IDF announced it had hit a Hamas compound in the Tel Sultan area of northwestern Rafah, where senior Hamas officials had gathered. They added in a statement, “The attack was carried out against terrorists who are a target for attack, in accordance with international law, using precision munitions, and based on intelligence indicating the use of the area by Hamas terrorists.”
The military acknowledged reports that the strike and a subsequent fire spreading into a camp for displaced Palestinians had resulted in civilian casualties, noting that the incident was under further investigation.
In a later statement, the IDF confirmed that the strike had killed Yassin Rabia, the commander of Hamas’s so-called West Bank headquarters — a unit tasked with orchestrating attacks against Israel from or in the West Bank — along with Khaled Najjar, another high-ranking member of the unit.
According to the IDF, Rabia “managed all of the military arrays of the West Bank headquarters…was involved in the transfer of funds for terror purposes and directed attacks by Hamas operatives” in the West Bank. Rabia had also personally executed several deadly attacks in 2001 and 2002, killing Israeli soldiers.
Najjar, the IDF stated, was responsible for directing shooting attacks and other terror activities in the West Bank and was involved in funneling funds to Hamas operatives. He had also carried out multiple attacks between 2001 and 2003, resulting in the deaths of civilians and soldiers.
Hamas and Palestinian Authority officials responded with outrage, describing the strike as a deliberate attack on displaced, defenseless civilians.
“In light of the horrific Zionist massacre this evening committed by the criminal occupation army against the tents of the displaced…we call on the masses of our people in the West Bank, Jerusalem, the occupied territories, and abroad to rise up and march angrily against the ongoing Zionist massacre against our people in the sector,” Hamas stated.
The West Bank-based office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called the strike a “heinous massacre,” accusing Israeli forces of “deliberately targeting” the tents of displaced people.
US President Joe Biden’s administration indicated it was monitoring the situation. “We’re aware of the reports about the incident in Rafah and are gathering more information,” a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council told The Times of Israel.
The strike occurred hours after Hamas launched a barrage of eight long-range projectiles at central Israel, marking the first such attack in four months. The IDF later reported that it had destroyed the rocket launcher used in the attack.
The military also announced the deaths of two soldiers during combat in Gaza on Sunday, as operations continued in the northern Strip’s Jabaliya as well as in Rafah. This brought the death toll of the ground offensive against Hamas and related border operations to 288. Additionally, a civilian Defense Ministry contractor had been killed in the Strip.
The IDF operation in Rafah, identified by the military as Hamas’s last major stronghold, has drawn further international criticism of Israel over the war in Gaza. The International Court of Justice issued a significant yet ambiguously worded ruling instructing Israel to halt military activities that could endanger the civilian population sheltering there.
Israeli officials have maintained that the ICJ order allows for some level of operations in Rafah, rejecting interpretations that the court ruling required a complete halt to the offensive.
Israeli tanks have been reported to be maneuvering around the outskirts of Rafah, near the Gaza-Egypt crossing, and have entered some of its eastern areas, but have yet to fully advance into the city since the operations began earlier this month.
{Matzav.com Israel}