Sunday evening’s strike, which medics said also wounded hundreds of civilians, drew worldwide condemnation.
The sight of the charred carnage, blackened corpses and children being rushed to hospitals led UN chief Antonio Guterres to declare that “there is no safe place in Gaza. This horror must stop.”
NO “BLIND EYE”
One million civilians have fled Rafah since Israel launched its assault on the city in early May, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
Nearly eight months into the deadliest Gaza war, Israel has faced ever louder opposition, as well as cases before two Netherlands-based international courts.
The White House said on Tuesday it is not turning a “blind eye” to the plight of Palestinian civilians, but it has no plans to change its Israel policy following the deadly weekend strike in Rafah.
“As a result of this strike on Sunday I have no policy changes to speak to,” Kirby told a White House briefing. “It just happened, the Israelis are going to investigate it.”
Kirby said, “this is not something that we’ve turned a blind eye to” but added: “We have not seen them go in with large units, large numbers of troops, in columns and formations in some sort of coordinated manoeuvre against multiple targets on the ground.”
The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’ Oct 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,189 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on the latest Israeli official figures.
Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,096 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry.
DIRE HEALTH TOLL
On Tuesday, Gaza civil defence agency official Mohammad al-Mughayyir said 21 people were killed in an “occupation strike targeting the tents of displaced people” in west Rafah.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza gave the same toll and said 64 people were wounded, 10 seriously.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, said it had suspended aid deliveries into Gaza by the sea after its temporary pier was damaged by bad weather.
The World Health Organization said Israel’s military offensive in Rafah was already taking a dire health toll in southern Gaza, and if it continues, “substantial” increases in deaths could be expected.
“There are currently 60 WHO trucks (in Egypt) waiting to get into Gaza,” said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the Palestinian territories, adding that only three trucks with medical supplies had entered since May 7.
On the diplomatic front, Egypt has “intensified efforts to relaunch” negotiations for a “truce and a detainee exchange deal”, the state-linked Al-Qahera News reported.
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