World leaders condemned Israel on Monday for an airstrike that killed 45 people in a camp for displaced people in the Gaza city of Rafah, as the Israeli Defense Forces denied that civilians were intentionally targeted.
"On top of the hunger, on top of the starvation, the refusal to allow aid in sufficient volumes, what we witnessed last night is barbaric," Ireland's Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said, Reuters reported.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he was "outraged" over Sunday's airstrike that set tents ablaze in a reported "humanitarian area" in northwestern Rafah where thousands fled the Israeli offensive that began earlier this month.
"These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians," Macron said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.
An Israeli government spokesperson denied that civilians were targeted and said the strike killed two Hamas leaders with "tons of Israeli blood on their hands."
Spokesperson Avi Hyman told the BBC that "somehow a fire broke out and sadly took the lives of others."
Israel's chief prosecutor called the incident "very grave" and said an investigation was underway. i Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi also said the country's military "regrets any harm to noncombatants during the war."
The Israel Defense Forces also posted a map on social media that it said showed the location of the "intelligence-based precise strike," adding, "Contrary to Hamas' lies and misinformation, the strike did not take place in the Al-Mawasi Humanitarian Area."
Last night, the @IAFsite carried out an intelligence-based precise strike that targeted senior Hamas terrorists in Tal as Sultan.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 27, 2024
Contrary to Hamas' lies and misinformation, the strike did not take place in the Al-Mawasi Humanitarian Area.
This is the area where the strike… pic.twitter.com/IiyOdnQfx9
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and the European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, demanded that Israel heed Friday's ruling from the United Nations' International Court of Justice, which called for an "immediate halt" to its military operations in Rafah.
"International humanitarian law applies for all, also for Israel's conduct of the war," Baerbock said.
Borrell said the Israeli attacks "must stop immediately."
"Horrified by news coming out of Rafah on Israeli strikes killing dozens of displaced persons, including small children. I condemn this in the strongest terms," he wrote on social media.
Israeli tanks continued to bombard eastern and central areas of Rafah on Monday, killing eight people, Reuters said, citing local health officials.
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto also said Israel's actions "can no longer be justified" because "the Palestinian people are being squeezed without regard for the rights of innocent men, women and children who have nothing to do with Hamas," according to al Jazeera.
Egypt called the Israeli airstrike the "deliberate bombing of the tents of displaced people," and Qatar warned that it could hinder efforts to negotiate a ceasefire and the return of hostages Hamas seized during the Oct. 7 surprise attack that sparked the ongoing war.
