May 2024 Al-Mawasi refugee camp attack | |
---|---|
Part of the Rafah offensive | |
Location within the Gaza Strip | |
Location | al-Mawasi, Rafah, Gaza Strip |
Coordinates | 31°19′44″N34°13′48″E / 31.32889°N 34.23000°E |
Date | 28 May 2024 |
Attack type | Tank shelling |
Deaths | 21+ Palestinian civilians |
Injured | 64 Palestinian civilians |
Perpetrator | ![]() |
On 28 May 2024, Gaza emergency services reported that four tank artillery shells struck a tent city in the Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone west of Rafah, hitting a group of tents and killing at least 21 people, at least 12 of whom were women, and injuring 64 people, including 10 in a critical condition. [1] [2] The strike occurred in an area designated as an expanded humanitarian zone by Israel in the wake of the Rafah offensive which has led to the mass displacement of Palestinian civilians to tent cities outside of the city. [3]
This attack came two days after a 26 May attack on a UNRWA refugee camp in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood that killed 45–50 civilians, [4] and four days after a 24 May legally binding order by the International Court of Justice for Israel to immediately stop its Rafah offensive due to the risk to civilians. [5]
The Israel Defense Forces denied attacking the area on 28 May. [6] The New York Times published a video showing the aftermath of the attack on al-Mawasi. [7]
After evacuation orders were issued by Israel during the Israel–Hamas war, many areas of Gaza became depopulated, with refugees primarily traveling to Rafah. Rafah became dense and overcrowded, with over 1.4 million civilians sheltering in the area. [8] However, when Israel invaded the city, it ordered the eastern neighborhoods evacuated as well. An estimated 950,000 civilians fled, going to other parts of southern Gaza designated as safe, including western Rafah. [9]
Four days before the attack, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt the Rafah offensive, [10] but Israel interpreted the order differently and continued its operations. [11]
Despite global outrage and calls from government officials from around the world to halt its Rafah offensive, less than 48 hours after the Tel al-Sultan massacre, Israel shelled the Al-Mawasi refugee camp in a designated civilian evacuation zone, killing at least 21 people, more than half of them women and girls. [12]
On 28 May, two days after the deadly Tel al-Sultan massacre, a cluster of tents were hit by shells in the designated humanitarian zone of Al-Mawasi. Gazan emergency services reported that the tents were hit from tank fire, while Wafa reported that tents were hit by Israeli airstrikes. 21 people were killed and 64 other were injured from the shelling, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. [13] [14] [15] [16]
Al Jazeera's reporter Hind Khoudary said: "Thirteen out of 21 people killed by Israel in the air strike on the so-called "safe area" of al-Mawasi were civilian women and girls". [17] [18]
Following the attack, several aid organisations in this part of the city were forced to close their operations and move them to other parts of the Gaza Strip, including the Al Quds field hospital run by the Palestine Red Crescent Society, a clinic supported by Doctors Without Borders and kitchens run by the World Central Kitchen. [19] [20] [21]
Another assault was launched at Al-Mawasi on 13 June, "including by navy boats firing heavy machine guns", leaving dozens of casualties. [22] [23]
Rafah is a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip. It is the capital of the Rafah Governorate of the State of Palestine, located 30 kilometers (19 mi) south-west of Gaza City. In 2017, Rafah had a population of 171,889. As a result of massive bombardment and ground assaults in Gaza City and Khan Yunis by Israel during the Israel–Hamas war, about 1.4 million Palestinians are believed to be sheltering in Rafah as of February 2024.
Al-Mawasi is a Palestinian Bedouin town on the southern coast of the Gaza Strip, approximately one kilometer wide and fourteen kilometers long, that prior to Israel's unilateral disengagement plan in 2005 existed as a Palestinian enclave within the Katif bloc of Israeli settlements. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Mawasi had a population of 1,409 in mid-year 2006.
Egypt–Palestine relations are the bilateral relations between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Palestine. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser was a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause and he favored self-determination for the Palestinians. Although the Egyptian government has maintained a good relationship with Israel since the Camp David Accords, most Egyptians strongly resent Israel, and disapprove of the close relationship between the Israeli and Egyptian governments.
On 9 October 2023, Israel intensified the blockade of the Gaza Strip after the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel and the ensuing Israel–Hamas war. Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced a "total blockade", blocking the entry of food, water, medicine, fuel and electricity. Egypt who controls Rafah Border Crossing has supported the blockade by not allowing Palestinians to enter Egypt.
The Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip is an ongoing part of the Israel-Hamas war. Immediately after the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Israel began the bombing of Gaza Strip. On 13 October, Israel began ground operations in Gaza in the form of small incursions and overnight raids. On the night of 27 October, Israel launched a full-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli campaign, called Operation Swords of Iron, has two primary goals: to destroy Hamas and to free the hostages.
During the Israel–Hamas war, the Israeli military ordered most residents of Gaza to evacuate their homes, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and contributing to a broader humanitarian crisis in the territory. It is the largest displacement of Palestinians in 75 years. Palestinians have described the evacuation as the "second Nakba."
Events of the year 2024 in Israel.
Events in 2024 in the Palestinian territories.
On 6 May 2024, Israel began a military offensive in and around the city of Rafah as part of its invasion of the Gaza Strip during the Israel–Hamas war.
The bombing of the Gaza Strip is an ongoing aerial bombardment campaign on the Gaza Strip by the Israeli Air Force during the Israel–Hamas war. During the bombing, Israeli airstrikes damaged Palestinian refugee camps, schools, hospitals, mosques, churches, and other civilian infrastructure. by late April 2024 it was estimated that Israel had dropped over 70,000 tons of bombs over Gaza, surpassing the bombing of Dresden, Hamburg, and London combined during World War II.
In March 2024, during the Israel–Hamas war, civilians seeking humanitarian aid were attacked at the Kuwait roundabout near Gaza City. According to the Gaza’s health ministry, 20 Gazans were killed and 155 were wounded. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) responded to the accusations saying they did not open in fire at the convoy, claiming that armed militants fired against the Gazan civilians while waiting for the aid convoy to arrive.
Before the Rafah offensive, Israel conducted airstrikes and threatened to invade the city as part of its invasion of the Gaza Strip during the Israel–Hamas war which began with the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. Intentions to invade were declared in February, meeting backlash from the international community because of the estimated 1.4 million refugees sheltering in the city.
On 26 May 2024, the Israeli Air Force struck Tel al-Sultan, Rafah, setting fire to a displacement camp. The incident killed between 45 and 50 Palestinians, including women and children, and injured over 200. It was the deadliest incident of the Rafah offensive.
"All Eyes on Rafah" is a pro-Palestinian political slogan during the Israel–Hamas war and Rafah offensive, mostly used on social media.
On 6 June 2024, the Israel Defense Forces fired two missiles at Al-Sardi, a UNRWA school in the Nuseirat refugee camp. Though the complex had not been used as a school since the outbreak of the war, UNRWA said approximately 6,000 people were using it for shelter.
On 8 June 2024, the Israeli military killed at least 276 people and injured over 698, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health and Palestinian health officials, during a hostage rescue operation in the UNRWA Nuseirat refugee camp. The operation's objective was to free multiple hostages taken during the 7 October attack on Israel. The Israeli military acknowledged fewer than 100 Palestinian deaths.
On 21 June 2024, Israeli forces attacked refugee tent camps in al-Mawasi, Gaza Strip just outside an area designated as a humanitarian safe zone. The Gaza Health Ministry reported that 25 people were killed and 50 others were injured in the two rounds of bombing. The bombing was the second Israeli bombardment of the al-Mawasi refugee camp in under a month, with an attack on 28 May killing over 21 people and injuring 64 more.
Video says "Al-Mawasi, Gaza, May 28" starting at the 0:02 mark.
Israel must refrain from any action in Rafah that risks killing a substantial part of the Palestinian group, either through bombardment or through displacement to areas where they will not long survive. The Court found that Israel's current military offensive is such an action...This military offensive must immediately halt.
It was widely viewed as an unambiguous statement: The top United Nations court ordered Israel to immediately halt its military assault on Rafah