Arab countries and foreign parties denounced the new Israeli massacre following the bombing of the tents of displaced people in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, which yesterday, Sunday, caused 35 martyrs – including women and children – and dozens of injuries.
The raids targeted a camp for displaced people near the warehouses of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees (UNRWA) near the Tal Al-Sultan area, which led to the spread of fires over large areas.
The government media office in Gaza said that the Israeli occupation committed a massacre by launching raids on areas to which it had previously forced the displaced in Rafah on the grounds that they were safe areas.
The State of Qatar expressed its condemnation in the strongest terms of the Israeli bombing, and considered it a serious violation of international laws that would double the worsening humanitarian crisis in the besieged Strip.
In a statement today, Monday, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed the need for the Israeli authorities to adhere to the decision of the International Court of Justice calling for an end to the military attacks on Rafah, and called on the international community to take urgent action to prevent the commission of the crime of genocide, provide full protection for civilians, and prevent the occupation forces from implementing their plans aimed at coercing them. On the forced displacement from the city, which became a final refuge for hundreds of thousands of displaced people inside the Gaza Strip.
The Ministry expressed the State of Qatar’s concern that the bombing would complicate ongoing mediation efforts and hinder reaching an agreement for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the exchange of prisoners and detainees, which would exacerbate the effects of this war and its repercussions on regional and international security.
In turn, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry described what happened in Rafah yesterday, Sunday, as a “tragic incident,” and called on the UN Security Council to intervene to ensure an end to the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip and operations in the city of Rafah.
In a statement, the Ministry considered that the Israeli bombing constitutes “a new and blatant violation of the provisions of international humanitarian law and the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 regarding the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.”
She stressed that the massacre is “a continuation of the continued targeting of defenseless civilians and the systematic policy aimed at expanding the scope of killing and destruction in the Gaza Strip to make it unlivable.”
She warned of “the inevitability of the international community fulfilling its legal and humanitarian responsibility to provide protection for Palestinian civilians and prevent their exposure to life-threatening risks.”
For its part, the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry called for “immediate and decisive intervention from the international community” to oblige the Israeli occupation forces to comply with “all relevant international legitimacy resolutions, most notably the clear and frank decision of the International Court of Justice on the necessity of stopping targeting the city of Rafah, and providing protection for the Palestinian people.”
Jordan called for those responsible for the new Israeli attack to be held accountable, and a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriate Affairs stated that the Israeli attack “is a blatant challenge to the decisions of the International Court of Justice and a grave violation of international law and international humanitarian law.”
The Ministry stressed that these practices represent “a flagrant violation of the rules of international law and international humanitarian law, are inconsistent with all human and moral values, and represent war crimes that the entire international community must confront and hold those responsible accountable.”
She called for “providing protection for defenseless civilians in Gaza and for relief organizations and their employees, especially UNRWA, which plays a major humanitarian role” in providing humanitarian aid and services to the Palestinians.
Arab Parliament
From Cairo, the Arab Parliament denounced “the heinous massacre carried out by the Israeli occupation entity against Palestinian civilians in the refugee camps in Rafah,” stressing that “the occupation entity has violated all international and legitimate laws, norms, and resolutions that call for an immediate cessation of aggression and a halt to the military attack on the city of Rafah, in A blatant challenge and a flagrant violation of all decisions.”
The Arab Parliament affirmed – in a statement published today – that “the failure of the occupying entity to be held accountable for its crimes and massacres committed against the Palestinian people and the failure to take any deterrent measures against it make it continue to kill and destroy.”
He pointed out that “the positions of the countries supporting the occupying entity – led by the United States of America – are the main reason for it continuing to commit more crimes and massacres, including the Rafah massacre, which claimed dozens of martyrs and wounded, including children and women.”
The Palestinian presidency had described the Israeli occupation army’s targeting of the tents of the displaced in Rafah as a “massacre that exceeded all limits,” and requested urgent intervention to stop these crimes targeting the Palestinian people.
Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina considered that the Israeli occupation forces committing that massacre “is a challenge to all resolutions of international legitimacy, most notably the clear and frank decision of the International Court of Justice that it is necessary to stop targeting the city of Rafah and provide protection for the Palestinian people.”
To impose sanctions
For its part, UNRWA considered that the horrific images of the Rafah massacre and the fall of a large number of victims – including children and women among the dead – are evidence that Gaza is “hell on earth.”
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestine, Francesca Albanese, confirmed that Israel’s bombing of the displaced persons’ camp in Rafah was a “blatant challenge to international law and order,” and called for imposing sanctions on Israel to end the “genocide.”
Albanese said in a post on the “X” platform, “The genocide in Gaza will not end easily without external pressure,” she added.“Israel must face sanctions, justice, suspension of agreements, trade, partnership and investments, as well as suspension of its participation in international forums.”
Since May 6, Israel has launched a ground attack on Rafah, forcing at least 810,000 Palestinians to flee from Rafah, where there were about 1.5 million people, including about 1.4 million displaced from other areas in the Strip.
The Israeli aggression against Gaza, which has continued since October 7, left more than 116,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and about 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly.
