5/28/2024–|Last updated: 5/28/202411:13 AM (Mecca time)
The British Middle East Eye website published a report on the Rafah massacre carried out by the occupation forces the day before yesterday, Sunday, in which 45 Palestinians were martyred, including 23 women, children and the elderly, while 249 others were wounded.
After sunrise the next day, the survivors of the Israeli bombing returned to the displacement camp in Rafah to assess the damage. Children peeked into the window of a car gone, men searched the charred wreckage, and journalists took photos of charred food cans.
About 12 hours before the report was prepared, Palestinian families were inside these tents that caught fire after the Israeli army bombed them northwest of Rafah. Many of them had just finished the evening prayer, some were asleep and others were gathering with their families.
Layan Al-Fayoum, a survivor of the attack, said, “We were sitting in safety when we heard the explosion, and it was very sudden. The bombs fell without warning.”
Torn bodies
The girl came out of her tent to see what happened, and she was shocked by the massive inferno that had engulfed the place. She told Middle East Eye, “The fire was huge. We saw the tents burning, and then we had to retrieve the pieces of torn bodies and martyred children.”
Eyewitnesses say that the attack occurred around 10 p.m., and Israeli planes dropped bombs on the camp, causing a fire that destroyed 14 tents.
According to an analysis broadcast by Tel Aviv Tribune, the camp is located in the “safe zone” designated by Israel, near a United Nations storage facility.
The report pointed to chaotic scenes after the Israeli raid, as terrified survivors ran in search of safety among charred corpses, while a man carried a decapitated child, and another paramedic carried a boy with his brain shattered.
Muhammad Abu Sabah, one of the eyewitnesses, said, “I came out of my tent and saw fire everywhere. There was a little girl screaming, so we helped her and her big brother. When we returned, the camp was completely destroyed.”
Despicable occupation
According to Layan, it took between one and two hours to stop the fire, which 11 fire engines participated in extinguishing. She said that her family was planning to move to another camp on Monday morning, with the increase in Israeli attacks in Rafah in recent weeks. But they lost their money in the fire, which means they can’t go anywhere now and have no tent to shelter in.
Abu Sabah told the British website, “They told us that these are safe areas. This occupation is despicable and criminal.”
In response to the Israeli army’s claims that it used “precision munitions” in the attack to kill two members of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and that it regretted “any harm caused to non-Hamas combatants during the war,” Abu Sabah said, “What do you expect them to say? We did not see resistance fighters.” Here, the fighters in the fighting zones east of Rafah, the Israelis are saying these things just to justify their actions. They want to kill the Palestinian people, force us out, and destroy our homes.”
The site concluded that these massacres came two days after the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel must stop its attack on Rafah in the case in which it is accused of genocide in Gaza. Tel Aviv rejected the ruling and said that its attack on the besieged Strip was in line with international law.
