Palestinians fleeing unsafe areas in Rafah arrive with their belongings in Khan Yunis on Tuesday — AFP RAFAH, Palestinian Territories, May 28 (AFP): Israel again bombarded Gaza's far-southern Rafah area on Tuesday despite a global storm of outrage over a strike that set ablaze a crowded tent city, killing 45 people according to Palestinian officials.
The strike, which Gaza medics said also left hundreds of civilians with shrapnel and burn wounds, drew condemnation from world leaders and was set to be discussed at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council from 1915 GMT.
The sight of the charred carnage, blackened corpses and children being rushed to hospitals led UN chief Antonio Guterres to declare that "there is no safe place in Gaza. This horror must stop."
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the strike a "tragic accident" but also vowed to push on with the military campaign to destroy Hamas over the October 7 attack and bring home all the hostages.
More air strikes and shelling rained down overnight on besieged Gaza -- including Rafah's Tal Al-Sultan area where the displacement camp went up in flames near a facility of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
"The situation is very dangerous," said one resident, Faten Jouda, 30. "We didn't sleep all night. There was random bombing from all directions, including artillery shelling and air bombardment as well as firing from aircraft.
"We saw everyone fleeing again," she told AFP. "We too will go now and head to Al-Mawasi because we fear for our lives," she said, referring to a nearby coastal area Israel has declared a safe "humanitarian zone".
More than seven months into the bloodiest ever Gaza war, Israel has faced ever louder international opposition, as well as cases against the country and its leader before two international courts based in the Netherlands.
The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,050 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.
The Sunday night attack that killed dozens in the displaced persons camp was targeting two senior Hamas members, the Israeli military said.
Israel's army said its aircraft "struck a Hamas compound" in the city and killed Yassin Rabia and Khaled Nagar, senior officials for the militant group in the occupied West Bank.
China expressed on Tuesday "grave concern" over Israel's military operations in Rafah, where an Israeli strike killed dozens in a displaced persons camp.
China "expresses its grave concern over the ongoing Israeli military operations in Rafah", foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.
The UN Security Council was set to convene an emergency meeting Tuesday over Israel's operations in the southern Gaza border city.
An Israeli attack targeting two senior Hamas members on Sunday night sparked a fire that ripped through a displacement centre, killing 45, according to Gaza health officials.
The attack prompted a wave of international condemnation, with Palestinians and many Arab countries calling it a "massacre". Israel said it was looking into the "tragic accident".
On Tuesday, Beijing urged "all parties to protect civilians and civilian facilities".
A merchant vessel was "taking on water" off the Yemeni port of Hodeida on Tuesday after it was damaged in a missile attack, maritime security firm Ambrey said.
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