{"id":60149,"date":"2024-05-27T22:39:35","date_gmt":"2024-05-27T22:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/27\/netanyahu-calls-civilian-deaths-in-rafah-strike-a-tragic-accident\/"},"modified":"2024-05-27T22:39:35","modified_gmt":"2024-05-27T22:39:35","slug":"netanyahu-calls-civilian-deaths-in-rafah-strike-a-tragic-accident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/27\/netanyahu-calls-civilian-deaths-in-rafah-strike-a-tragic-accident\/","title":{"rendered":"Netanyahu Calls Civilian Deaths in Rafah Strike a \u2018Tragic Accident\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/27\/multimedia\/27mideast-ledeall-01-tbgj\/27mideast-ledeall-01-tbgj-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Netanyahu Calls Civilian Deaths in Rafah Strike a \u2018Tragic Accident\u2019\" title=\"Netanyahu Calls Civilian Deaths in Rafah Strike a \u2018Tragic Accident\u2019\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">With international condemnation mounting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said on Monday that the killing of dozens of people a day earlier at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah was \u201ca tragic accident,\u201d but gave no sign of curbing the Israeli offensive in the southern Gaza city.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The deadly fire that tore through the encampment on Sunday after an airstrike came at a particularly delicate time for Israel, just days after the International Court of Justice appeared to order the country\u2019s military to halt its offensive in Rafah and as diplomats were aiming to restart negotiations for a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Israel military said that the target of the strike in Rafah on Sunday was a Hamas compound, and that \u201cprecise munitions\u201d had been used to target a commander and another senior militant official there.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But at least 45 people, including children, were killed by the blast and by the fires it set off, according to the Gaza health ministry. The ministry said that 249 people were wounded.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a speech to the Israeli Parliament on Monday, Mr. Netanyahu said the military had sought to protect noncombatants, by issuing evacuation orders, adding that about a million civilians had left Rafah ahead of, or during, the offensive. \u201cDespite our supreme effort not to harm uninvolved civilians,\u201d he said, \u201ca tragic accident occurred to our regret last night.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He accused Hamas of hiding among the general population, and said: \u201cFor us, every uninvolved civilian who is hurt is a tragedy. For Hamas it\u2019s a strategy. That\u2019s the whole difference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As images of the dead and maimed reached screens around the world, the condemnation was instant. The latest opprobrium appeared likely to make it still harder for Israel to continue its campaign against Hamas in Rafah, the southern city to which about a million displaced Gazans have fled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Monday, one Israeli ally, President Emmanuel Macron of France said he was \u201coutraged\u201d by the airstrike in Rafah and declared that these operations \u201cmust stop.\u201d He called \u201cfor full respect for international law and an immediate cease-fire.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Israeli government, which invaded the Gaza Strip after a Hamas-led attack from there killed some 1,200 people in Israel, argues that it has no choice but to move into Rafah if it wants to wipe out the militants. The city, the Israelis say, is a stronghold from which Hamas fighters earlier on Sunday fired rockets deep into central Israel for the first time in months.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But with Rafah harboring displaced Gazans forced into the city by earlier fighting in the north, world leaders have warned of the dangers of a major military operation there.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The deaths on Sunday appeared to be precisely what those urging Israel to tread carefully had worried about.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Bilal al-Sapti, 30, a construction worker in Rafah, said he had seen charred bodies in the wreckage of the camp and heard people screaming as firefighters tried to put out the flames. \u201cThe fire was very strong and was all over the camp,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dr. Marwan al-Hams, who was at the Tal Al Sultan Health Center where many of the casualties first arrived, said that a majority of the dead and injured he had seen were women and children. \u201cMany of the dead bodies were severely burned, had amputated limbs and were torn to pieces,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Hamas, in a statement, described the Israeli strike on Rafah as \u201ca horrific war crime\u201d and demanded the \u201cimmediate and urgent implementation\u201d of the World Court\u2019s decision. The group did not refer to the Israeli military\u2019s assertions that two Hamas officials had been killed in the strike.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Israeli military said it had taken a number of steps before the strike to reduce the risk of harm to civilians, including conducting aerial surveillance and using munitions characterized as precise. \u201cBased on these measures, it was assessed that there would be no expected harm to uninvolved civilians,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But an Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, said on Monday that an initial investigation by the military had concluded that the strike, or shrapnel from it, may have unexpectedly ignited a flammable substance at the camp. Eyewitnesses described intense fires in the aftermath of the strike.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Military drone footage of the attack reviewed by The New York Times showed the munition striking an area containing several large cabinlike structures and parked cars.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Two Israeli officials said that the strike had taken place outside of a designated humanitarian zone created to offer safe refuge to evacuees. The officials <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IDF\/status\/1795089873772142873\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">produced a map<\/a> showing what it said was the location of the strike in relation to the zone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The military identified the two targets of the strike as the commander of Hamas\u2019s leadership in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Yassin Rabi, and a senior official in the same wing of the group, Khaled Nagar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In an ambiguously worded order, the International Court of Justice, an arm of the United Nations which is hearing arguments pertaining to accusations that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, called on Israel to immediately halt any actions in Rafah that \u201cmay inflict upon the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that would bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israeli officials have argued that the 13-2 ruling allowed it to continue fighting in Rafah because it would not inflict such genocidal conditions. But some of Israel\u2019s allies do not view the order that way. Even before the latest civilian deaths, Germany\u2019s vice chancellor, Robert Habeck, said that the offensive in Rafah was \u201cincompatible with international law.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Late Sunday, Israel\u2019s war cabinet met to discuss the continuing efforts to reach a cease-fire deal that would lead to freedom for the hostages seized during the Oct. 7 attacks, according to an Israeli official who spoke on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the talks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Diplomats are <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/25\/world\/middleeast\/israel-hamas-hostage-cease-fire-talks.html\" title=\"\">aiming to restart<\/a> negotiations at some point in the next week, according to three officials briefed on the process. According to the officials, preliminary discussions were <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/25\/world\/middleeast\/israel-hamas-hostage-cease-fire-talks.html?\" title=\"\">held this weekend<\/a> in Paris.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Reporting was contributed by <!-- -->Hiba Yazbek<!-- -->, <!-- -->Abu Bakr Bashir<!-- -->, <!-- -->Iyad Abuheweila<!-- -->, <!-- -->Patrick Kingsley<!-- -->, <!-- -->Myra Noveck<!-- --> and <!-- -->Johnatan Reiss<!-- -->.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/27\/world\/middleeast\/israel-rafah-civilian-deaths.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With international condemnation mounting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said on Monday that the killing of dozens of people a day earlier at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah was \u201ca tragic accident,\u201d but gave no sign of curbing the Israeli offensive in the southern Gaza city. The deadly fire that tore through [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/27\/multimedia\/27mideast-ledeall-01-tbgj\/27mideast-ledeall-01-tbgj-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9582,1187,36564,5551,4758,4761,2335,13538],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60149"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60149"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60151,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60149\/revisions\/60151"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}