On Sunday evening, Israeli occupation forces fired eight rockets toward the tents in a newly established camp crowded with thousands of displaced people near the warehouses of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
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The action of the Zionist army killed at least 50 people. It was a severe and unprecedented Israeli airstrike on the densely populated area of displaced families, igniting tents made of plastic and tin, as well as civilian vehicles.
Video clips on social networks showed flames rising intensively in the area and fires engulfing tents still inhabited by many, including children and women.
The Civil Defense and ambulance crews face significant obstacles in retrieving the bodies due to the difficult terrain. The area was densely populated as it had been previously classified by the Israeli military as a "safe area" before the strike.
The Palestinian Resistance Movement (Hamas) slammed the bombing as "complete defiance and disregard for the decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that demanded it to stop its aggression against Rafah."
It also noted that Israel would not have committed without the U.S. support and green light, saying to hold the U.S. administration fully responsible for the deadly attack. The Israeli occupation army justified what happened by saying that the camp housed "significant Hamas terrorists."
The Israeli airstrike came hours after Al-Qassam Brigades, the Hamas armed wing, launched a large rocket barrage from Rafah towards the coastal city of Tel Aviv in central Israel for the first time in months.
On May 7, the Israeli occupation army took control of the Rafah crossing, situated south of the Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt, which resulted in a halt in aid entering Gaza. Israel considers Rafah a last stronghold for Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007.