{"id":60224,"date":"2024-05-28T01:56:04","date_gmt":"2024-05-28T01:56:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/28\/rafah-is-hell-on-earth-warns-un-agency-head-as-netanyahu-claims-airstrike-was-a-tragic-mistake\/"},"modified":"2024-05-28T01:56:04","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T01:56:04","slug":"rafah-is-hell-on-earth-warns-un-agency-head-as-netanyahu-claims-airstrike-was-a-tragic-mistake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/28\/rafah-is-hell-on-earth-warns-un-agency-head-as-netanyahu-claims-airstrike-was-a-tragic-mistake\/","title":{"rendered":"Rafah is ‘hell on Earth’, warns UN agency head, as Netanyahu claims airstrike was a ‘tragic mistake’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rafah<\/div>


\n<\/p>\n

\n

The southern Gazan city of Rafah has become “hell on Earth”, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said.<\/p>\n

According to the Hamas-controlled health ministry, at least 45 people were killed in a tent camp after an Israeli<\/a><\/strong> airstrike on Sunday, described by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “tragic mistake”<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of UNRWA, said some of the agency’s staff are “unaccounted for” and “many” civilians have been injured.<\/p>\n

“Children and women living in tented plastic makeshift shelters are among the killed,” he said, adding others were “reportedly burnt to death”.<\/p>\n

“The images from last night are testament to how Rafah has turned into hell on Earth.”<\/p>\n

Survivors said families were about to sleep when the strike hit the Tel al Sultan neighbourhood, where thousands were sheltering after Israel began a ground offensive in the east of Rafah.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n The strike took place in Tel al Sultan neighbourhood of western Rafah
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

“We were praying… getting our children’s beds ready to sleep. There was nothing unusual, then we heard a very loud noise\u2026 fire erupted around us,” said Palestinian mother Umm Mohamed Al-Attar.<\/p>\n

“All the children started screaming… the sound was terrifying, we felt like the metal was about to collapse on us, and shrapnel fell into the rooms.”<\/p>\n

More than half of the dead were women, children, and elderly people, health officials in Gaza<\/a><\/strong> said, adding that because of the severe burns suffered by some of the injured, the number of dead was likely to rise.<\/p>\n

A Red Cross field hospital operating in Rafah saw a “very high influx” of injured Palestinians.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"Fire\n <\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians. Pic: Reuters
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

William Schomburg, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation in Gaza, told Sky News their hospital received patients with “horrific injuries”.<\/p>\n

“We’re talking about very heavy shrapnel wounds. We’re talking about severe burns as well as blast trauma injuries,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Our team conducted several operations, including, tragically, some amputations.”<\/p>\n

The Red Cross field hospital has only been up and running for a few weeks, but Mr Schomberg said there was a risk of it becoming “overloaded very quickly” if Israel continues operations in Rafah.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"Children\n <\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n Children look into a vehicle carrying the bodies of Palestinians killed in the strike. Pic: Reuters
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Israel has kept up its offensive despite a ruling by the top UN court on Friday ordering it to stop<\/a><\/strong>, claiming the ruling grants some scope for military action there.<\/p>\n

In a speech in parliament, Mr Netanyahu said the strike was not meant to cause civilian casualties.<\/p>\n

“In Rafah, we already evacuated about one million non-combatant residents and despite our utmost effort not to harm non-combatants, something unfortunately went tragically wrong,” he said.<\/p>\n

The Israel Defence Forces had earlier said the strike was against “legitimate targets” with “precise munitions” and on the basis of “precise intelligence” – adding the incident was “under review”.<\/p>\n

Read more:
The walls are closing in on Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a>
Sunak faces calls for UK to recognise Palestinian state<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"Follow
\n <\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n <\/div>\n
\n Follow Sky News on WhatsApp<\/span><\/p>\n

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News<\/p>\n

Tap here<\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Israel says it wants to root out Hamas fighters holed up in Rafah and rescue hostages it says are being held in the area.<\/p>\n

Medics in Gaza said a further Israeli airstrike on a house in Rafah on Monday has killed seven people, with several others wounded.<\/p>\n

The US urged Israel to take more care to protect civilians, but stopped short of calling for a halt to the Rafah incursion, while French President Emmanuel Macron said he was “outraged”.<\/p>\n

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the International Court of Justice ruling must be respected.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The southern Gazan city of Rafah has become “hell on Earth”, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said. According to the Hamas-controlled health ministry, at least 45 people were killed in a tent camp after an Israeli airstrike on Sunday, described by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “tragic mistake”. Philippe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/05\/768x432\/skynews-rafah-strike_6567331.jpg?20240527190843","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2539,21395,4811,2116,8918,10819,4758,4761,13538,5219],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60224"}],"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=60224"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60226,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60224\/revisions\/60226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}