Rafah: Emergency meeting of the UN Security Council convened

Following a deadly Israeli air strike on a refugee camp near the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, the UN Security Council has called an emergency meeting for Tuesday. The meeting on the situation in Rafah will be held behind closed doors, the AFP news agency learned from diplomatic circles. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of a “tragic mishap” in reference to the incident, which has drawn sharp international criticism. The Israeli army has launched an investigation. Meanwhile, AFP journalists reported new attacks on Rafah.

Attack on Rafah: UN Security Council convenes emergency meeting

The emergency meeting of the UN Security Council is planned for Tuesday afternoon (local time), according to diplomatic sources. It was requested by Algeria.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the air strike, in which, according to the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas, 45 people were killed. “Numerous innocent civilians” who had sought protection from the deadly conflict were killed, Guterres said. There is no safe place in the Gaza Strip, he continued. “This horror must stop.” UN human rights commissioner Volker Türk spoke of “horrific” images.

The US government was shocked by the large number of civilian deaths. The images of the camp in which “dozens of innocent Palestinians” were killed were “devastating” and “heartbreaking,” said a spokesman for the National Security Council in the White House in Washington. Israel must “take every possible precaution to protect civilians,” he warned.

The spokesman also said that the US government had contacted the Israeli army and other partners on the ground to obtain information about the attack.

In Berlin, the federal government was cautious in its comments. Legal experts would have to clarify whether this was a war crime, said government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit. “If something like this happens, it is worthy of condemnation.”

According to the health ministry in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the Islamist Hamas, 45 people were killed and the number of injured is 249. According to Palestinian sources, the camp is the Barkasat refugee camp, run by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), northwest of Rafah. According to Hamas, the nighttime attack sparked a fire in the camp. AFP images showed the charred remains of makeshift tents and vehicles.

The Israeli army said it had “hit a Hamas complex in Rafah” where “key Hamas terrorists were active.” The attack reportedly killed two senior Hamas officials who had been involved in planning attacks in the occupied West Bank. The army’s attorney general had instructed the General Staff’s Investigation and Assessment Mechanism to investigate the attack, the Israeli army said.

Rockets from Rafah on Israel

Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed regret over the deaths of innocent civilians in Rafah. “In Rafah, we evacuated one million innocent residents,” he told parliament in Jerusalem. Despite Israel’s efforts, however, a “tragic mishap” occurred. “We are investigating the case and will draw conclusions from it.”

More than a million people have sought refuge from the Israeli offensive in the city of Rafah on the border with Egypt. Israel locates the last remaining Hamas battalions there. The Israeli airstrike on Rafah followed a massive rocket attack from Rafah. According to Israeli sources, rockets were fired at Tel Aviv and central Israel on Sunday for the first time in months.

Meanwhile, there were new attacks on Rafah on Tuesday. AFP teams reported air strikes and gunfire in the center and west of Rafah.

The war between Israel and Hamas, which the US and EU classify as a terrorist organisation, has been going on for more than seven months. On October 7, Hamas’s fighters carried out a major attack on Israel, killing more than 1,170 people according to Israeli sources. In addition, 252 people were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip.

In response to the unprecedented attack, Israel has since launched a massive military operation in the Gaza Strip. According to figures from the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, which cannot be independently verified, more than 36,000 people have been killed so far.

In the midst of the war, Spain, Ireland and Norway want to officially recognize an independent Palestinian state on Tuesday. A press conference is planned in Brussels for this purpose. The step represents a break with the long-standing stance of Western countries of only recognizing a Palestinian state as part of a peace agreement with Israel. The plan was met with sharp criticism in Israel.