Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted Monday that his army’s horrific attack that killed dozens of displaced Palestinians in Rafah was a “tragic mistake,” as his government faces international condemnation for the strikes that engulfed the camp in flames.
On Sunday evening, Israeli forces began shelling a tent camp in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood in southern Gaza City that was designated as a “safe zone” for displaced Palestinians to take shelter. Local health officials said the strikes have killed at least 45 people and the number is expected to rise as people continue to dig through the rubble.
“Despite our utmost efforts not to harm innocent civilians, there was a tragic mistake last night,” Netanyahu told Israel’s parliament. “We are investigating the incident and we will reach a conclusion because that is our policy.”
Israel has long claimed to be capable of investigating itself over alleged crimes, even though human rights groups say authorities regularly fail to conduct thorough investigations into violence against Palestinians. In cases where Israel imposes punitive measures on accused soldiers, the consequences are usually milder.
Images of the massacre quickly spread on social media, showing extremely graphic scenes of people burned alive and the bodies of children, including babies, torn apart as screaming civilians tried to escape surrounded by flames.
“We took out people who were in an unbearable state,” Gaza civilian Mohammed Abuassa told The Associated Press. “We took out children who were in pieces. We take out young and old. “The fire in the field was unreal.”
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, most of the dead and wounded were women and children, bringing the Palestinian death toll from the Israeli military offensive to more than 36,000.
Netanyahu’s statement, which did not explain the “mistake” in detail, contradicted a claim made hours earlier by his own military. The Israel Defense Force said on social media that soldiers “carried out a precise attack based on intelligence information” targeting senior Hamas officials.
The Israeli military claimed on Monday morning that Tel al-Sultan (or Zone 2371, as the military calls it) was not part of its designated humanitarian area and therefore soldiers were allowed to bomb the refugee camp. Anyone who claims otherwise is pushing Hamas propaganda, he argued.
But Aid groups with personnel on the ground during the attack maintained that the tent camp was in a designated safe area.
Israeli officials eventually said they were investigating the attacks and that the military regretted the loss of civilian life. According to the AP, Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the Israeli military’s top legal official, said such incidents happen “in a war of such scope and intensity,” echoing Netanyahu’s comments from earlier in the war, when he said Palestinian deaths were merely collateral damage.
“We will never forget the images that emerged from Rafah tonight,” the pro-Palestinian group Jewish Voice for Peace said in a statement. “Human beings, including babies, were burned alive and torn apart. “This genocide must end, it must end now.”
Netanyahu faced swift condemnation from the international community for the attack, with human rights groups, aid organizations and Western leaders calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The U.N. agency providing aid to the Palestinians said Monday that it has not been able to contact its teams on the ground in Rafah.
“Outraged by the Israeli attacks that have killed many displaced people in Rafah,” French President Emmanuel Macron, one of Israel’s main allies, posted on social media. “These operations must cease. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians. “I ask for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire.”
The massacre occurred just two days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to withdraw its military from Rafah. Israel is accused before the ICJ of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, and the International Criminal Court recently announced that it is seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders.
The attack also occurred as Spain, Ireland and Norway plan to diplomatically recognize a Palestinian state, a move that Israel’s foreign minister said was “a reward for terrorism.”
“It is a real dilemma. How can the international community (…) enforce the decisions of the International Court of Justice? I guess we will discuss this today,” said Josep Borrell, the European Union’s high representative, at the EU Foreign Affairs Council on Monday.
The White House National Security Council called the “devastating images” from Rafah “heartbreaking,” saying Israel “has the right to pursue Hamas” but the military “must take every possible precaution to protect civilians.” ”. The statement, which does not mention any potential consequences for Israel, is virtually the same response the Biden administration gave after the IDF killed Palestinians, aid workers, children and medical staff and blocked needed humanitarian assistance.
The US government, specifically President Joe Biden, has not escaped similar condemnation for supporting and supplying the Israeli military. Biden has continued to back Netanyahu even though the prime minister periodically ignores pleas from his strongest ally to further reduce harm to civilians.
“Enough is enough. If President Biden sends even one more missile at the Israeli government after seeing the apocalyptic images of decapitated Palestinian children and civilians burned alive with American bombs in the so-called Rafah safe zone, he will once again cross his own red line and every red line of American law, international law, and basic human decency,” Edward Ahmed Mitchell, deputy national director of the Muslim civil rights group CAIR, said in a statement Monday.
“No more shifting red lines, no more calls for Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to investigate itself, and no more military, financial or diplomatic support for this genocide,” he continued. “All Americans are being stained with the blood of innocent Palestinians by the Biden administration’s support for this massacre. Must end. Now”.
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