Rafah Airstrike Ignites Deadly Fire in Displacement Camp
An Israeli airstrike targeting alleged Hamas officials in Rafah's Tal al-Sultan area triggered a devastating fire that tore through a tent camp for displaced Palestinians on Sunday night, killing at least 45 people and wounding more than 200 others, according to Gaza health officials.
"I suddenly saw the place on fire," a mother who declined to give her name told NBC News. "All the people fled from the tents running. The sound was horrifying and deafening."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incident as a "tragic error" in a speech at the Israeli Knesset. "Despite our best effort not to harm those not involved, unfortunately a tragic error happened last night. We are investigating the case," he said.
Military Claims and Conflicting Evidence
The Israeli military claimed it was targeting a compound housing two Hamas officials – West Bank Chief of Staff Yassin Rabia and senior Hamas member Khaled Nagar – when it launched the strike using what it described as "the smallest munition that our jets can use," consisting of two 37.5-pound warheads.
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari stated that the resulting fire was "unexpected and unintended," adding that intelligence indicated "no tents in the immediate vicinity" of their target. However, satellite imagery captured hours before the strike appears to show temporary structures clustered around the bombing site, raising questions about the IDF's pre-strike assessment.
"The fire was huge," Muhammad Al-Mughir, a spokesperson for Gaza's civil defense, told NBC News. "Most of the people killed died by burning." He said it took first responders and residents about 45 minutes to extinguish the blaze, which scorched an area approximately 110 feet long by 53 feet wide.
Medical Response and Humanitarian Impact
Medical teams from Doctors Without Borders (MSF) treated 180 injured people nearby, mostly suffering from shrapnel wounds, fractures, and severe burns. Dr. James Smith, a British emergency specialist working in Rafah, described the injuries as "truly some of the worst that I have seen."
"People [were] literally burned alive in their tents," Smith told NPR. "This is unlike anything I have seen in the six-plus weeks I have been back here in Gaza. Truly one of the most horrific massacres to have occurred in recent days here in Rafah and across the Gaza Strip."
Many survivors expressed confusion about whether they were in a designated safe zone. The IDF stated the strike occurred just under a mile from the "humanitarian area" in nearby Muwasi where evacuees had been directed to seek shelter. An NBC News analysis showed the tent camp did not appear to be either in a designated humanitarian area or under direct evacuation orders issued in early May.
International Response
The attack came just days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to "immediately halt" its military operation in Rafah and open the border with Egypt to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. The strike also followed Hamas rocket fire toward Tel Aviv on Sunday, the first such attack on central Israel in months.
International condemnation was swift, with UN Secretary-General António Guterres saying: "I condemn Israel's actions which killed scores of innocent civilians who were only seeking shelter from this deadly conflict. There is no safe place in Gaza. This horror must stop."
More than 800,000 people have fled Rafah since early May, according to UN figures, after Israel began its military operation there. The IDF said its independent Fact Finding and Assessment Mechanism is investigating "the circumstances of the deaths of civilians in the area of the strike," though no findings have been released more than two weeks after the incident.
