According to health officials in Hamas-run Gaza, the death toll was likely to grow as more people with serious burns died. Women, children, and the elderly made up more than half of the fatalities.
After a strike late on Sunday night that set tents and flimsy metal shelters on fire, Palestinian families hurried to hospitals to prepare their deceased for burial.
Survivors reported that when the attack occurred, thousands of people were taking refuge in the Tel Al-Sultan neighborhood, where Israeli forces had launched a ground offensive more than two weeks prior, as families were getting ready for bed.3
“As we prepared our kids’ beds for sleep, we were praying.” A Palestinian mother wearing a red headscarf named Umm Mohamed Al-Attar claimed, “There was nothing unusual, and then we heard a very loud noise, and fire erupted around us.”
“The sound was terrifying; we felt like the metal was about to collapse on us and shrapnel fell into the rooms,” said the children. “All the children started screaming.”
People could be heard screaming in fear as a fire raged in the darkness in video footage that was obtained by the global news organization Reuters. As a single fire vehicle started to douse the flames, a group of young guys attempted to remove sheets of corrugated iron with a hose.
Read more:No Rest for Gaza Dead: The Power of Swift Burials
In the Gazan city of Rafah, an Israeli bombardment set sparked a fire that killed forty-five people in a tent camp, according to officials on Monday. This led to an international outcry, with world leaders calling for the enforcement of a World Court decision to stop Israel’s attack.
Medics later said an Israeli airstrike on Monday on a house in Rafah had killed seven Palestinians, with several others wounded.
Israel’s most recent attacks have “outraged” French President Emmanuel Macron. “These activities have to end. For Palestinian citizens, there are no secure locations in Rafah, he stated on X.
The International Court of Justice’s decision must be honoured, according to EU foreign policy leader Josep Borrell and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.