A wave of international condemnation targeted Israel on Monday May 27 after its army’s strike on Sunday evening on a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, which left 45 dead and 249 injured. according to the report provided by the Hamas Ministry of Health.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regretted, on Monday, “a tragic mistake”, and the Israeli army said it was investigating the deaths of civilian victims after initially explaining that it had targeted two senior officials of the Palestinian movement with “precise ammunition”.
“Calling it a ‘mistake’ means nothing to those who were killed, those who are grieving, and those trying to save lives.”proclaimed the head of UN humanitarian operations, Martin Griffiths, describing this ” attack ” of“abominable” .
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“I condemn Israel’s actions which have killed many innocent civilians who were only seeking protection from this deadly conflict. There is no safe place in Gaza. These horrors must stop”declared, for his part, Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) who requested an investigation “complete and transparent” on the bombing of the Barkasat camp, managed by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
A “hell on earth”
“Last night’s images bear witness to the transformation of Rafah into hell on earth”said Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA, claiming that some agency employees were missing.
Images from the Palestinian Red Crescent, according to which the location targeted by the strike had been designated by Israel “like a humanitarian zone”show scenes of chaos, ambulances with sirens blaring and rescuers in the middle of the night on a burning site, evacuating the injured, including children.
“We saw charred, dismembered bodies (…) cases of amputations, injured children, women and the elderly »testified Mohammed Al-Mughayyir, a civil defense official in the Gaza Strip.
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The UN Security Council is due to meet urgently on Tuesday afternoon, according to diplomatic sources. This closed-door meeting was requested by Algeria, a non-permanent member of the Council, several of these sources told Agence France-Presse.
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“Upset”Washington called on its Israeli ally to “take all precautions to protect civilians”. French President Emmanuel Macron said he “outraged” And Canada, “horrified”called for “an immediate ceasefire”.
A gathering of nearly 10,000 people in Paris
Around 10,000 people gathered near the Israeli embassy in Paris to denounce the bombings. The crowd, some of whom wore kaffiyehs, waved Palestinian flags and signs reading: “We do not kill a child, whether Jewish or Palestinian: Stop the bombings, free Palestine”, “Rafah, Gaza we are with you”.
For their part, Spain, Norway and Ireland will recognize the State of Palestine on Tuesday at a press conference in Brussels, an announcement made last week which aroused the ire of Israel .
The deadly strike on Rafah came a few hours after rocket attacks, claimed by Hamas, on the Israeli metropolis of Tel Aviv from Rafah, but also two days after a decision by the International Court of Justice, the highest court in the UN, which ordered Israel on Friday to suspend its operations in Rafah.
According to the UN, this operation had already pushed, in nearly three weeks, some 800,000 Palestinians to flee, thus forcing people who had tried to find refuge in Rafah earlier in the war to move again.
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