Israel to blame?

Horrific attack on refugee tents near Rafah

A woman folds her tent as displaced Palestinian families pack their belongings.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Bashar TALEB)

According to Palestinian reports, at least 24 people have been killed in a tragic attack on a tent camp with displaced persons near the town of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip. The attack is said to have been carried out by Israel.

Israeli tank shells hit the tent camp as a complete surprise. The incident occurred on Friday in Al-Mawasi near Rafah, where many people have fled to - after the Israeli military began its offensive in the town on the border with Egypt, which is overcrowded with refugees, at the beginning of May.

24 people are dead and 47 other Palestinians injured, the Ministry of Health, which is controlled by the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, announced on Friday. The military announced that initial investigations did not indicate Israeli authorship.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Bashar TALEB)

The information could not initially be independently verified. Citing initial investigations, the Israeli military stated that the attack in Al-Mawasi was not carried out by Israeli troops. The incident is still being investigated.

New wave of expulsions from Rafah
The military had previously announced that at least 32 Palestinians had been killed in attacks in the city of Rafah and other areas of the Gaza Strip. According to the report, tanks advanced into the western and northern parts of the city after having already captured the east, south and center. The attacks were carried out from aircraft, tanks and ships off the coast.

Smoke rises after Israeli bombardment.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Bashar TALEB)

This triggered a new wave of displacement from the city. There had previously been more than a million displaced people there, most of whom had to flee again. The Israeli military also announced that its forces had carried out "precise, intelligence-led" operations in the Rafah area, during which troops had been involved in close combat and tunnels belonging to the radical Islamic organization Hamas had been discovered.

"Terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip continue to place weapons and terrorist infrastructure in the midst of the civilian population, endangering them and using them as human shields"

Israelische Armee

Israel intends to continue operations
Israel's army announced on Friday that operations in the center and south of the Gaza Strip would continue. On Friday night, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) rocket launch site was hit in an area in the city of Khan Younis, which is designated as a humanitarian zone. The launch site was located in a place where many civilians had sought shelter from the fighting in the Gaza Strip. Measures had been taken to keep them away from harm. "Terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip continue to place weapons and terrorist infrastructure in the midst of the civilian population, endangering them and using them as human shields," the army said.

Fighting is also reportedly continuing in Rafah. "The troops continue to eliminate terrorists in close combat," the military said in a statement. Israeli soldiers had also discovered further tunnels in the city near the border with Egypt. Several terrorists were also killed in the central part of the coastal area.

The army's claims could not be independently verified either. The military also announced on Friday that two soldiers had been killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip on Thursday.