Israel’s top military prosecutor has described an air strike on Rafah, which according to Gaza health authorities killed dozens of Palestinian civilians, as “very grave”.
The prosecutor said an after-action investigation by the Israeli armed forces was underway.
“The details of the incident are still under an investigation, which we are committed to conducting to the fullest extent,” Major-General Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi told a conference hosted by the Israel Bar Association.
“The IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] regrets any harm to non-combatants during the war.”
Israel says air force targeted Hamas compound
The air strikes killed at least 35 Palestinians and wounded dozens in an area of the southern Gaza Strip city which was designated for the displaced, Palestinian health and civil emergency service officials said.
The Israeli military said its air force struck a Hamas compound in Rafah and the strike was carried out with “precise ammunition and on the basis of precise intelligence”.
It took out Hamas’ chief of staff for the West Bank and another senior official behind deadly attacks on Israelis, it said.
“The IDF is aware of reports indicating that as a result of the strike and fire that was ignited several civilians in the area were harmed. The incident is under review.”
Ashraf Al-Qidra, the spokesman for the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, said 35 people were killed and dozens others, most of them women and children, were wounded in the attack.
The strike took place in Tel Al-Sultan neighbourhood in western Rafah, where thousands of people were taking shelter after many fled the eastern areas of the city where Israeli forces began a ground offensive more than two weeks ago.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said its field hospital in Rafah was receiving an influx of casualties, and other hospitals also were taking in a large number of patients.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri described the attack in Rafah as a “massacre”, holding the United States responsible for aiding Israel with weapons and money.
“The air strikes burnt the tents, the tents are melting and the people’s bodies are also melting,” said one of the residents who arrived at the Kuwaiti hospital in Rafah.
Reuters/ABC