What happened after Israel bombed Rafah safe zone? Gazan officials describe aftermath

Thousands of people mourned on Monday the victims of the prior evening’s mass-killing at the barracks area, Mawasi Rafah, near Rashid Street, west of Rafah, and thousands more rushed to hospitals to check on their wounded relatives and offer them a helping hand.

Israeli warplanes launched a series of air strikes on Sunday night targeting the tents of Paletinians who were displaced from east to western Rafah, an area the Occupation military previously designated as a safe zone which would not be exposed to fighting. At least 45 people were killed and over 200 people were injured, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said on Monday evening. 

Eyad Qadeeh, a public relations official at Gaza’s Health Ministry told Mada Masr that “Occupation forces perpetrated the heinous massacre.” Seventy percent of those injured suffered burns after the bombing caused fires to break out in their tents while they were asleep, according to Qadeeh. It amounts to a war crime, he said.

The bombing of tents in the barracks area led an entire block to go up in flames, said the director of the supply department at Gaza’s Civil Defense unit, Mohamed al-Mughir. He told Mada Masr that the fire led a large number of people to sustain burns ranging from moderate to severe. The tents were made of wood and pieces of cloth and contained easily flammable mattresses and covers, he added, which is why they caught fire rapidly as the missiles which hit them were highly-explosive rocket shells.

Although civil defense vehicles, including fire and rescue vehicles, arrived at the scene in less than three minutes and were able to control the fire after about 45 minutes, the Civil Defense Directorate’s capacity is limited as it does not have sufficient fuel to operate vehicles, Mughir noted, holding UNRWA and the United Nations responsible for not providing the agency with the necessary fuel.

Qadeeh noted that a large number of the injured had to undergo amputations to their lower or upper limbs, or both. He called on the international community to pressure Israel to open the Rafah border crossing to allow the injured to leave for treatment outside the Gaza Strip, as the health system inside the strip struggles to provide care due to a massive shortage of medicines and specialized medical staff.

Ambulances and personal cars flocked to the area to transport the victims to the Kuwaiti and Emirati hospitals in Rafah and to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Some were also transferred to hospitals with lower medical capabilities and scarce medicines, beds and fuel to operate generators, including the Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah and Awda Hospital in Nuseirat.

“The Health Ministry’s problem lies in the severe shortage of everything, especially fuel to operate electric generators,” Qadeeh said, noting that ambulances and some hospitals receive no fuel, and therefore have had to halt operations, harming patients.

Supplies to the strip have been limited since Israel invaded Rafah and established control of the Rafah and Karam Abu Salem border crossings — the main two access points for aid and fuel reaching the strip.

Director of the Gaza government media office Ismail Thawabta told Mada Masr that the international community must break its silence and compel the Occupation to stop its aggression and massacres against the Palestinians in Gaza, which it continues to perpetrate against a defenseless civilian population. 

So far, the number of Palestinians killed by Israel’s violence on Gaza has reached 36,050 killed, with 81,026 left injured, according to the strip’s Health Ministry.