Israel attacks displaced persons center in Rafah

At least 35 Gazans have died in an Israeli bombing of a displaced persons camp in the northwest of Rafah, in the Tal al Sultan neighborhood, an attack confirmed by the Israeli Army, directed against two senior Hamas officials.

“Another atrocious massacre was committed by Israeli forces in Rafah, which has so far claimed the lives of 50 martyrs and dozens of wounded, most of them children and women,” said a spokesman for the Gaza Health Ministry.

For its part, the Israeli Army confirmed the attack by its aircraft in the Tal al Sultan area, “based on precise intelligence” and directed against two senior officials of the Islamist group Hamas, the commander of its division for the West Bank, Yassin Rabia; and another senior commander of that same division, Khaled Nagar.

“The Hamas wing in Judea and Samaria (occupied West Bank) is responsible for the planning, financing and execution of terrorist attacks throughout Judea and Samaria and within Israel,” said a military statement about that attack in Tal al Sultan, a neighborhood of Rafah, which Israeli forces had not yet ordered to evacuate and which was hosting hundreds of displaced people.

Images spread on Palestinian social networks show a large fire caused by aerial bombardment on temporary tents in Tal al Sultan.

“We are aware of reports indicating that, as a result of the attack and the fire that started, several civilians in the area were injured. The incident is under review,” the Army stressed about the attack.