Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a "tragic mistake" had been made and an investigation was underway as Israel faced fresh accusations today over an attack on the southern Gaza town of Rafah that killed at least 45 Palestinians, including displaced people in tents.
"Despite our best efforts not to harm innocent civilians, a tragic mistake occurred last night. We are investigating the incident and will come to a conclusion, because that is our policy," Netanyahu said in the Israeli parliament (Knesset).
Israel has announced an investigation into the deaths of civilians after an attack that targeted two Hamas members.
After that attack, one of the deadliest in the war, the number of dead Palestinians (since October 7 last year, when the war began), exceeded 36.000, according to the data of the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
Israel has faced international criticism before for its war against Hamas, and even the country's closest allies, including the US, have expressed dismay at the civilian deaths.
Israeli leaders, however, have maintained that they are abiding by international law despite a recent order by the UN's highest court that Israel halt its offensive in Rafah and requests by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to bring charges against Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant, according to the Associated Press.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza claims that around half of those killed in the latest attack are women, children and the elderly.
Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city on the border with Egypt, was home to more than a million people, about half of Gaza's population, displaced by conflict in other parts of the enclave.
Israel's top legal official said authorities were investigating the attacks and that the military regretted the civilian deaths.
Military lawyer Major General Yifat Tmomer Yerushalmi added that such incidents happen in a war of such scope and intensity.
Today, despite the growing international condemnation of the Israeli offensive in Rafah, Netanyahu announced the continuation of the fight in Gaza and rejected accusations that the government is not negotiating in good faith for the release of the hostages still held in Gaza, Israeli media reported.
(Beta)
The Health Ministry of Hamas announced this afternoon the new balance of victims of the Israeli attack on Sunday on a camp with displaced Palestinians in Rafah, 45 people were killed and 249 were wounded - France Press reported.
Several countries and organizations have condemned the Israeli aerial attack on tents with displaced people in the southernmost city of Gaza, reports Al-Jazeera TV.
The Palestinian Authority has accused Israel of deliberately targeting civilians.
In a statement, the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) assessed that the scenes from Rafah are evidence that Gaza is "hell on earth".
A senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, said it was a "slaughter" and that he holds the US responsible for helping Israel with weapons and money.
Israel's chief military prosecutor, Major General Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi, called the attack "very serious" and announced an investigation, expressing regret for the civilian casualties.
Palestinian eyewitnesses and the Al Jazeera agency estimated that the camp where civilians were targeted was deliberately targeted.
The Palestinian Wafa news agency, citing the Palestinian Red Crescent, reported that many women and children were "burned alive" in the tents.
Qatar condemned the attack in Rafah as a serious violation of international law, warning that it would worsen the humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip and could undermine efforts by mediators to reach a ceasefire.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that his country will do everything possible to hold Israel's "barbaric" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accountable for the deadly attacks in Rafah.
Egypt also condemned the "deliberate bombing" and called on Israel to implement the International Court of Justice (ICJ) order to immediately suspend military operations.
The attack was also condemned by the foreign ministers of Spain, Ireland, Norway, Germany, the EU, and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Hamas announced today that the death toll in the Gaza Strip during the war exceeded 36.000.
(BETA)
The decisions of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Gaza must be implemented, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borelj, said today in Brussels, before the meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs of the EU and several Arab countries.
"Everyone agrees that the decisions of the ICJ are binding and must be implemented," said Borelj, after the court's call to Israel to "immediately" stop the offensive on the Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip.
However, he added that there is a "dilemma" as to how the international community can enforce the implementation of these decisions.
EU ministers will discuss this today before they meet with their colleagues from Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, the Emirates and the Secretary General of the Arab League, Borelj told reporters.
Palestinian officials today accused Israel of bombing a camp for displaced persons near Rafah, where 40 people died.
(BETA)
Egypt today condemned the "deliberate Israeli bombing of displaced persons' tents" in Rafah, which killed at least 40 people, the Palestinian Civil Defense said.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry called on Israel to "implement the measures ordered by the International Court of Justice regarding the immediate cessation of military operations" in the Palestinian town of Rafah, on the border with Egypt.
The ministry condemned "a new flagrant violation of the provisions of international humanitarian law".
The Palestinian presidency and Hamas accused Israel of carrying out a "massacre" by targeting a center for displaced people near Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, while the Israeli military said the attack targeted a compound where terrorists were operating.
The Palestinian Civil Defense of the Gaza Strip said that 40 people were killed and 64 wounded after Israeli strikes on the Rafah camp.
(BETA)
Conflict between Israel and Hamas - 234th day.
The Palestinian Authority and Hamas accused Israel of a "massacre" when it targeted a center for displaced people near Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, while the Israeli military said it was targeting "legitimate targets" and "terrorists".
"This terrible massacre committed by the Israeli occupation forces violates all international resolutions," the Palestinian presidency said in a statement.
The Palestinian Authority accused Israel of "deliberately targeting" the Barkasat displaced persons camp, northwest of Rafah, which is run by the UN Palestine Refugee Agency.
According to Hamas, which is in power in the Gaza Strip, at least 35 people were killed in the bombing, and dozens were wounded.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said that "a large number" of those killed or wounded in the attack were transported by ambulance.
The Israeli military announced that one of the Israeli planes struck the Hamas compound in Rafah, where terrorists, including two leaders of the movement from the West Bank, were operating.
"The strike was carried out against legitimate targets according to international law, using precision munitions and based on accurate intelligence indicating the use of the area by Hamas," the Israeli military said in a statement.
(BETA)
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