Israel continues Rafah strikes despite condemnation

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released footage of injured people being treated at Rafah’s International Medical Corps (IMC) field hospital on Monday, following an Israeli airstrike on a makeshift camp of internally displaced people the previous day.

OCHA said that doctors at the IMC field hospital in Rafah were among the first responders, after the Israeli strike on Sunday set fire to the camp.

At least 45 people were killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and the Palestinian Red Crescent rescue service. The ministry said the dead included at least 12 women, eight children and three older adults, with another three bodies burned beyond recognition.

IMC Medical Director Javed Ali said that the hospital treated 75 patients, with 25 being in a critical condition.

“I saw the dead body of a father who was basically holding his child, perhaps around three years of age,” Ali said. “They were burned and charred. We couldn’t separate them. So, we had to put both of them together in a body bag. It was very, very hard.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that a “tragic mistake” was made in the strike, but did not elaborate on the error.

Rafah, the southernmost Gaza city on the border with Egypt, had housed more than a million people — about half of Gaza’s population — displaced from other parts of the territory. Most have fled once again since Israel launched what it called a limited incursion there earlier this month. Hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid tent camps in and around the city.

Additional sources • AP