From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, May 28, 2024
IDF vows full probe into Rafah strike, shows evidence it was not in designated safe zone
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, in an English-language press conference, says the military is investigating the possibility that Hamas munitions stored in the area of a strike in southern Gaza’s Rafah on Sunday night caused a fire to spread and kill civilians.
“On Sunday, we eliminated senior Hamas terrorists in a targeted strike, on a compound used by Hamas in Rafah. The strike was based on precise intelligence that indicated that these terrorists, who were responsible for orchestrating and executing terror attacks against Israelis, were meeting inside this structure we targeted,” Hagari says.
“Sadly, following the strike, due to unforeseen circumstances, a fire ignited, taking the lives of Gazan civilians nearby. Despite our efforts to minimize civilian casualties during the strike, the fire that broke out was unexpected and unintended,” he continues.
Hagari says the deaths of the civilians in the strike is a “devastating incident, which we did not expect.” According to health authorities in Gaza, 45 people were killed.
“We are investigating what caused the fire that resulted in this tragic loss of life. An investigation is ongoing,” he says.
Showing imagery from the site, Hagari says the IDF “targeted a closed structure away from the tent area. There are no tents in the immediate vicinity.”
“Contrary to reports, we conducted the strike outside the area that we designated as a humanitarian area and called civilians to evacuate to. Our strike was over a kilometer and a half away from the al-Mawasi humanitarian area, what we call the safer zone,” he says.
“The strike was conducted using two munitions with small warheads, suited for this targeted strike. We are talking about munitions with 17 kilograms of explosive material,” Hagari says, adding that “this is the smallest munitions that our jets can use.”
“Following this strike, a large fire ignited, for reasons still being investigated. Our munition alone could not have ignited a fire of this size,” he continues.
“Our investigation seeks to determine what may have caused such a large fire to ignite. We are looking into all possibilities, including the option that weapons stored in a compound next to our target, which we did not know of, may have ignited as a result of the strike,” he says.
“It should be noted that Hamas has been operating in this area since October 7,” Hagari says, showing another image showing Hamas rocket launchers 43 meters from the targeted site. “Hamas fired rockets from these launchers at Israel during the massacre on October 7,” Hagari says.
Hagari says the IDF is also looking at “footage, documented by Gazans on the night of the strike, posted on social media, which appeared to show secondary explosions, indicating that there may have been weapons in the area.”
“Signals intelligence intercepted some phone calls that reinforce this concern raising the possibility that weapons stored in a nearby compound caught fire,” he says, before airing one such call in which Gazans discuss the blast and “ammunition that started exploding.”
“Yes, this is an ammunition warehouse. I tell you it exploded. The Jewish bombing wasn’t strong, it was a small missile, because it didn’t create a large hole. And afterward a lot of secondary explosions,” one of the Palestinians is heard saying in the call.
“We are working to verify the cause of the fire. It is still too early to be determined. Even when we do find the cause of the fire that erupted, it won’t make the situation any less tragic,” Hagari says.
“We took a number of steps prior to the strike to avoid civilian casualties. Aerial surveillance, using specific munitions to minimize collateral damage, delaying the attack to further assess the expected civilian presence, and other means,” he continues.
Hagari vows that the investigation will be “swift, comprehensive, and transparent.”
