May 2024 Al-Mawasi refugee camp attack

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May 2024 Al-Mawasi refugee camp attack
Part of the Rafah offensive of the Israel–Hamas war
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Al-Mawasi
Location within the Gaza Strip
Location al-Mawasi, Rafah Governorate, Gaza Strip
Coordinates 31°19′44″N34°13′48″E / 31.32889°N 34.23000°E / 31.32889; 34.23000
Date28 May 2024
Attack type
Tank shelling
Deaths21+ Palestinian civilians
Injured64 Palestinian civilians
PerpetratorFlag of the Israel Defense Forces.svg  Israel Defense Forces

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]

Contents

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]

Background

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]

Attack and aftermath

On 28 May, two days after the deadly Tel al-Sultan massacre, [13] 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. [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]

Palestinians reported another assault at Al-Mawasi on 13 June, by Israeli navy boats firing heavy machine guns. [22] [23]

Reactions

See also

Related Research Articles

Al-Mawasi is a fertile area for agriculture in the Gaza Strip. It is along the coast and has many sand dunes. Al-Mawasi is fourteen kilometers long and one kilometer wide, making up about 3% of the Gaza Strip. It is a Palestinian Bedouin town and prior to the 2005 unilateral Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip, it was a Palestinian enclave within the Israeli settlements of Gush Katif. Al-Mawasi had a population of 1,409 in the middle of 2006. Prior to the Israel–Hamas war, al-Mawasi had a population of 9,000. It has a number of buildings with a maximum of 100 structures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israel–Hamas war</span> Ongoing armed conflict in the Middle East

An armed conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups has been taking place in the Gaza Strip and Israel since 7 October 2023. It is the fifth war of the Gaza–Israel conflict since 2008, and the most significant military engagement in the region since the Yom Kippur War in 1973. It is the deadliest war for Palestinians in the history of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Wikipedia articles available about the Israel–Hamas war. It is an evolving list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaza Strip evacuations</span> State-ordered displacement

During the Israel–Hamas war, the Israeli military ordered mass evacuations in Gaza, resulting in one of the largest displacements of Palestinians since 1948. On 13 October 2023, just one week after Hamas' attack on Israel, Israel instructed 1.1 million Gazans north of the Wadi Gaza, including those in Gaza City, to evacuate within 24 hours. This evacuation triggered a humanitarian crisis, with Palestinians calling it the "second Nakba," in reference to the mass displacement of 1948.

Events of the year 2024 in Israel.

Events in the year 2024 in Palestine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rafah offensive</span> 2024 Israeli offensive along the Egypt–Gaza border

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Background of the Rafah offensive</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tel al-Sultan attack</span> 2024 Israeli airstrike on refugee camp in Gaza

On 26 May 2024, the Israeli Air Force bombed a displacement camp in Tel al-Sultan, Rafah. The attack, which set the camp on fire, killed between 45 and 50 Palestinians and injured more than 200. Sometimes referred to as the Rafah tent massacre or as the Tent Massacre, it was the deadliest incident of the Rafah offensive.

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 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.

The June 2024 northern Gaza City airstrikes or Al-Shati and Tuffah dual airstrikes took place on 22 June 2024, when two airstrikes conducted by the Israeli Defense Forces occurred at roughly the same time in northern districts of Gaza City, striking the al-Shati refugee camp and the Tuffah district, killing at least 43 people and wounding dozens more.

On 9 July 2024, the Israeli Defense Forces bombed Al-Awda school in Abasan al-Kabira near the city of Khan Yunis, in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. The UNRWA-ran that had been converted into a displacement shelter, hosting refugees from the Israeli invasion. At least 31 Palestinians were killed in the attack while over 53 were injured; most of the casualties were women and children. Many of the victims were refugees from Rafah following Israel's Rafah offensive. The attack was the fourth attack on a Palestinian school conducted by the Israel Defense Forces over the prior four days.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">13 July 2024 al-Mawasi attack</span> 2024 Israeli attack on refugee camp in Gaza

On 13 July 2024, Israeli airstrikes hit the Al-Mawasi area near Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip during the Israel–Hamas war. The attack killed at least 90 Palestinians, among them women and children, and injured over 300. Israel said that the strike targeted Hamas top leaders. Survivors reported that they were targeted without warning in an area they were told was safe.

On 10 September 2024, the Israeli military conducted airstrikes on a refugee camp it had designated as a humanitarian "safe zone" in Al-Mawasi near Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip where displaced civilians had been sheltering during the Israel–Hamas war. Between 19 and 40 Palestinians were killed in the attack, over 60 others were injured, and several people were trapped under the rubble. The Palestinian Civil Defence described the attack as a massacre.

On December 4, 2024, Israeli forces conducted two consecutive air strikes on al-Mawasi, a designated evacuation and humanitarian zone in Khan Yunis Governorate, southern Gaza, which had been struck multiple times over the course of the Israel–Hamas war. The explosions and the resulting fire that engulfed many refugee shelters resulted in multiple civilian casualties, and extensive damage to refugee accommodations.

References

  1. Al-Mughrabi, Nidal (28 May 2024). "Israeli tanks hit evacuation zone west of Rafah". Reuters.
  2. "At least 21 killed in Israeli attacks on tent camp near Gaza's Rafah". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 2024-05-28. Retrieved 2024-05-29.
  3. AAP (2024-05-28). "Israeli tanks hit evacuation zone west of Rafah". The Queenslander. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  4. Ebrahim, Nadeen (2024-05-27). "Israeli strike that killed 45 at camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah a 'tragic error,' Netanyahu says". CNN. Archived from the original on 2024-05-27. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  5. Nashed, Mat. "ICJ rules Israel must stop Rafah operation, what's next?". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 2024-05-28. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  6. "Israel did not strike humanitarian area, says IDF spokesperson". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 2024-05-28. Archived from the original on 2024-05-28. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  7. "Video: Strike Kills Displaced Gazans in Al-Mawasi, Officials Say". The New York Times. 28 May 2024. Archived from the original on 29 May 2024. Retrieved 29 May 2024. Video says "Al-Mawasi, Gaza, May 28" starting at the 0:02 mark.
  8. "ActionAid: Conditions in Rafah at breaking point, with over one million displaced people". Wafa agency.
  9. Fabian, Emanuel (20 May 2024). "IDF estimates 950,000 Gazans have evacuated from Rafah amid offensive". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 27 May 2024. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  10. Haque, Adil Ahmad (25 May 2024). "Halt: The International Court of Justice and the Rafah Offensive". Just Security. Archived from the original on 28 May 2024. Retrieved 29 May 2024. 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.
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