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AL-BARKASAT MASSACRE

Israel investigating cause of blaze that followed Rafah air strike

Israel investigating cause of blaze that followed Rafah air strike

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp housing internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. (Credit: Eyad Baba/AFP)

TEL AVIV — The Israeli military is investigating the possibility that munitions stored near a camp for the displaced in Gaza hit by an airstrike on Sunday may have caught fire, killing more than 40 civilians, a spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said it was still unclear to the army what set off the deadly blaze in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, but added that the 17-kilogram munitions the army claims to have used in the strike were believed to be too small to have set off such a big fire.

"We are looking into all possibilities including the option that weapons stored in a compound next to our target which we did not know of may have ignited as a result of the strike," he told a televised briefing, adding that footage of the incident indicated there were secondary explosions following the strike.

The incident, coming just days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt its operation in Rafah, triggered international outrage, deepening the global isolation facing Israel over the war in Gaza.

Read more.

Israeli attack on the displaced in Rafah: What we know

Hagari said the operation on Sunday targeted two senior Hamas operatives in a compound in which no civilians were present but "due to unforeseen circumstances, a fire ignited tragically taking the lives of Gazans nearby."

Among the horrific images from the aftermath of the strike are bodies burned stiff with arms still reaching out, people being carried unconscious from the burning tents, the remains of a child decapitated by the strike, and a man holding a baby too shocked to cry. 

Initial reports say Israel targeted the camp — recently established to shelter Palestinians who had fled from Israeli aggression elsewhere in the Strip — with seven or eight strikes. 

TEL AVIV — The Israeli military is
investigating the possibility that munitions stored near a camp for the displaced in Gaza hit by an airstrike on Sunday may have caught
fire, killing more than 40 civilians, a spokesperson said on
Tuesday.
Chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said it was still unclear to the army what set off the deadly blaze...