Israel promises investigation of deadly Rafah airstrike after international outrage
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday an airstrike in the area of Rafah in southern Gaza that killed dozens of Palestinians was not intended to cause civilian casualties and would be investigated.
The strike, which triggered a massive blaze killing 45 people in a tent camp, has prompted an outcry from global leaders who urged the implementation of a International Court of Justice ruling last week to halt Israel’s assault in Rafah.
“In Rafah, we already evacuated about one million non-combatant residents and despite our utmost effort not to harm non-combatants, something unfortunately went tragically wrong,” Netanyahu said in a speech in parliament that was interrupted by shouting from opposition lawmakers.
“We are investigating the incident and will reach conclusions, because this is our policy.”
In scenes grimly familiar from a war in its eighth month, Palestinian families rushed to hospitals to prepare their dead for burial after the strike late on Sunday night set tents and rickety shelters ablaze.
Women wept and men held prayers beside bodies in shrouds.
“The whole world is witnessing Rafah getting burnt up by Israel and no one is doing anything to stop it,” Bassam, a Rafah resident, said via a chat app, of the strike in an area of western Rafah that had been designated a safe zone.
Israeli tanks continued to bombard eastern and central areas of the city in southern Gaza on Monday, killing eight, local health officials said.
‘Watching the situation with despair’
The attack took place in the Tel Al-Sultan neighbourhood, where thousands were sheltering after Israeli forces began a ground offensive in the east of Rafah more than two weeks ago.
More than half of the dead were women, children and elderly people, Palestinian health officials said.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says the situation in Rafah is horrific and the Liberal government needs to take action to prevent a genocide and get more Palestinians with ties to Canada out of Gaza.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday said he was “outraged.”
“These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians,” he said on X.
Italy offered one of its strongest criticisms concerning the military campaign in Gaza.
“There is an increasingly difficult situation, in which the Palestinian people are being squeezed without regard for the rights of innocent men, women and children who have nothing to do with Hamas, and this can no longer be justified,” Defence Minister Guido Crosetto told SkyTG24 TV.
“We are watching the situation with despair.”
Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock and the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said a International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling on Friday must be respected. That ruling, unenforceable, called for an end to military operations in Rafah “which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”
More than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive, Gaza’s health ministry says, though its totals do not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.
Israel launched the operation after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
The Sunday Magazine16:51How ICJ, ICC moves are playing out in Israel amid war with Hamas
Israel intercepts rockets from Gaza
Israel says it wants to root out Hamas fighters holed up in Rafah and rescue hostages it says are being held in the area.
Israeli tanks have probed around the edges of Rafah, near the crossing point from Gaza into Egypt, since May 6 and have entered some of its eastern districts.
It pointed to eight rockets that were intercepted Sunday after being fired from the Rafah area.
But even the United States, Israel’s biggest supplier of military weaponry, weighed in on the “devastating images” in Tel Al-Sultan.
“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,” a National Security Council spokesperson said. “But as we’ve been clear, Israel must take every precaution possible to protect civilians.
Speaking after the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel should halt military operations in the southern Gaza community of Rafah, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there should be no escalation in the area by Israel and called for immediate access to more aid.
Egypt and Saudi Arabia also condemned the Israeli attack, while Qatar said it could hinder efforts to mediate a ceasefire and hostage exchange.
After Friday’s ICJ ruling, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it was important there not be any “escalation of military operations in Rafah,” while stressing the need for much more humanitarian aid to reach Gaza to stave off starvation and famine.
‘Their children have been orphaned’
Sitting beside bodies of his relatives in Gaza, Abed Mohammed Al-Attar said Israel lied when it told residents they would be safe in Rafah’s western areas. His brother, sister-in-law and several other relatives were killed in the blaze.
“The army is a liar. There is no security in Gaza. There is no security, not for a child, an elderly man or a woman. Here he [my brother] is with his wife, they were martyred,” he said.
“What have they done to deserve this? Their children have been orphaned.”
Hospitals in Rafah, including the International Committee of the Red Cross field hospital, were unable to handle all the wounded, so some were moved to hospitals in Khan Younis further north in Gaza for treatment, medics said.
“Gaza is hell on earth,” UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, wrote on X.
Published at Mon, 27 May 2024 13:29:40 +0000
More than 2,000 buried alive in Papua New Guinea landslide, government says
Papua New Guinea’s massive landslide three days ago buried more than 2,000 people, the government said on Monday, as treacherous terrain impeded aid and lowered hopes of finding survivors.
The National Disaster Centre gave the new number in a letter to the UN, which had put possible deaths at more than 670. The numbers of those buried around Yambali village in Enga province in the country’s north are based on estimates from local authorities, which have been rising steadily since Friday’s landslide.
The different tallies show the difficulty in getting an accurate estimate of the local population, as Papua New Guinea’s last credible census was in 2000 and many people live in remote mountainous villages.
The National Disaster Centre raised the toll again to 2,000 in a letter to the UN on Sunday that was released publicly on Monday. The landslide also caused major destruction to buildings and food gardens, it said.
“The situation remains unstable as the landslip continues to shift slowly, posing ongoing danger to both the rescue teams and survivors alike,” according to the letter.
About 4,000 people were living near the affected area, said Justine McMahon, the country director for CARE International Papua New Guinea, in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Monday.
The country recently announced a census would be conducted in 2024.
People in Papua New Guinea are using any tools they can find to rescue ‘whatever they can’ after a devastating and deadly landslide, an official with the International Organization of Migration says.
Landslide tough to reach
The unstable terrain, remote location and nearby tribal warfare are hampering relief efforts.
Emergency crews, led by Papua New Guinea’s defence personnel, were on the ground, but the first excavator only reached the site late on Sunday, according to a UN official.
Social media footage posted by villagers and local media teams showed people scaling rocks, digging with shovels, sticks and their bare hands to find survivors. Women could be heard weeping in the background.
Six bodies have been retrieved so far. The UN said the number of possible deaths could change as rescue efforts were expected to continue for days.
Couple rescued from rubble
Media in Papua New Guinea on Monday reported that residents had rescued a couple trapped under rubble after hearing their cries for help.
Johnson and Jacklyn Yandam told local NBC News that they were very grateful and described their rescue as a miracle.
“We thank God for saving our lives at that moment. We were certain that we were going to die but the big rocks didn’t crush us,” Jacklyn said. “It’s really hard to explain as we got trapped for nearly eight hours, then got rescued. We believe we were saved for a purpose.”
About 1,250 people have been displaced by the landslide, which occurred in Papua New Guinea’s Enga province early Friday. More than 150 houses were buried and about 250 houses abandoned.
“The houses are buried under around eight metres of dirt. So there is quite a lot of debris to get through,” said CARE’s McMahon.
Dangerous conditions
Water continued to flow under the debris, the UN migration agency said, making it extremely dangerous for residents and the rescue team to clear debris.
Serhan Aktoprak, the chief of the UN migration agency’s mission in Papua New Guinea, told ABC television that emergency crews would continue to look for survivors until the residents asked them to stop.
Tribal violence in the region has raised security concerns for road travel, with the military escorting convoys of rescue teams. Eight people were killed, and five shops and 30 houses burned down on Saturday, the UN agency said.
Papua New Guinea gave arrest powers to its military in February amid an eruption of tribal violence that saw at least 26 men killed in an ambush.
The landslide hit a section of highway near the Porgera gold mine, operated by Barrick Gold through Barrick Niugini Ltd., its joint venture with China’s Zijin Mining. Barrick has said the mine has enough fuel on site to operate for 40 days and other critical supplies for longer.
Published at Mon, 27 May 2024 07:51:38 +0000
