Shrapnel from Israeli strike may have ignited fuel tank near Rafah tents — report
ABC News says Israel told the US it believes shrapnel or something else from attack on Hamas terrorists caused container to explode, setting nearby tents for displaced Gazans ablaze
Israeli officials have told the US that they believe tents housing displaced Gazans went up in flames after a fuel tank was set alight following an airstrike on top Hamas terrorists nearby, according to a report Monday.
The tank was located some 100 meters (330 feet) from the area targeted in the airstrike, but was ignited by shrapnel or something else following the Israeli attack, ABC News reported, citing an unnamed US official.
According to the report, the US has no way to validate or reject Israel’s version of events and is awaiting the outcome of a probe into the deadly incident.
The official also reiterated the Biden administration’s opposition to a major ground offensive in Rafah, while stressing that’s not what Israel is currently doing.
The strike, which is being investigated by an independent military body responsible for investigating unusual incidents amid the war, targeted and killed the commander of Hamas’s so-called West Bank headquarters — charged with advancing attacks against Israel in and from the West Bank — as well as another top member of the unit.
Hamas health authorities said some 45 people were killed in the strike, which had also engulfed several tents and shelters where thousands of people were taking shelter in the Tel Sultan area of western Rafah.
The strike drew fiercer condemnations from the European Union, the United Nations, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, France, and others, who called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The US on Monday lamented the “devastating” and “heartbreaking” images from the strike.
“Israel has a right to go after Hamas, and we understand this strike killed two senior Hamas terrorists who are responsible for attacks against Israeli civilians, but, as we’ve been clear, Israel must take every precaution possible to protect civilians,” said a statement from a National Security Council spokesperson.
Responding to the incident, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel had made attempts to keep civilians safe by evacuating one million Palestinians from Rafah.
“Despite our efforts not to hurt them, there was a tragic mishap. We are investigating the incident. For us it’s a tragedy, for Hamas it’s a strategy,” he said, while also vowing to continue fighting in Gaza despite mounting international condemnation of the offensive in the Strip’s southernmost city.
The army said it carried out the attack after receiving intelligence that senior Hamas commanders Yassin Rabia and Khaled Najjar were in the area. It claimed that it took “many steps” to reduce civilian harm and believed that non-combatants would be protected.
A military source said that two missiles with a “reduced in size” warhead, which were adapted for such targets, were used in the strike.
The IDF added that the strike did not take place in the designated “humanitarian zone” in the al-Mawasi region on the coast, where the military has called Palestinians to evacuate to in recent weeks. Palestinians say that the zone is completely overcrowded, forcing them to find adjacent areas to shelter.
The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas’s October 7 massacre, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 252 hostages amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
Roughly 36,000 Palestinians have been killed and 80,420 have been injured in the Israeli military offensive against Hamas since October 7, according to the Gaza health ministry run by the terror group.
These figures have not been verified and only some 25,000 fatalities have been identified at hospitals. The tolls include some 15,000 terror operatives Israel says it has killed in battle. Israel also says it killed some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
