Tel al-Sultan attack
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.
When Israel invaded Rafah and ordered the evacuation of its east, some citizens fled to other parts of the city, like Tel al-Sultan, seeking safety. One week before the bombing, Israel had designated the neighborhood as a "safe zone" and dropped leaflets instructing Palestinians to move there. Two days before the attack, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt its offensive, but Israel interpreted the order differently and continued its operations.
On the night of the attack, Israel struck the neighborhood with two U.S. made GBU-39 glide bombs. The bombs ignited a fire in the "Kuwaiti Peace" tent camp; many civilians were trapped and burned alive. Israel killed four militants and injured one commander. It claimed it attacked an outer "Hamas compound" and accidentally set off the fire. However, videos and satellite images showed that the location of the airstrike was inside the refugee camp itself, and some sources alleged Israel deliberately targeted civilians. Military analysts stated that bombs used by Israel have a large effect radius, and therefore should not have been used in a densely populated civilian area. An investigation by Amnesty International concluded that militants were in the camp, but that Israel knowingly put civilians at risk. Images of the attack spread internationally, described as "some of the worst" of the war.
Background
After evacuation orders were issued by Israel during the Gaza 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. However, when Israel first invaded the city, it ordered the eastern neighborhoods evacuated. An estimated 950,000 civilians fled, going to other parts of southern Gaza designated as safe, including where the attack took place in western Rafah.Two days before the attack, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt the Rafah offensive. However, Israel interpreted the order as merely to comply with international law, not necessarily stop the offensive, and continued. The Euro-Med Monitor reported that in the 48 hours since the order was issued, Israel had launched over 60 airstrikes in the city. The attack came shortly after Hamas launched rockets at Tel Aviv, the first salvo fired at the city since approximately late January 2024. The IDF said eight rockets were fired from the Rafah area, though were intercepted.
Designation as a "safe zone"
Many sources reported that the area that Israel attacked had previously been designated by Israel as a "safe zone". CBC News showed pictures of Israeli leaflets that read:For your safety, the Israeli Defence Force is asking you to leave these areas immediately and to go to known shelters in Deir el Balah or the humanitarian area in Tel al-Sultan through Beach Road. And don't blame us after we warned you.
NPR reported that Israeli leaflets urging civilians to evacuate to Tel al-Sultan had been dropped one week before the bombing. Witnesses speaking to Agence France Press confirmed they only came to Tel al-Sultan on instructions from IDF leaflets. Abed Mohammed Al-Attar, whose family would later be killed in the attack, said the Israeli forces had told residents that this area was a safe zone. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society stated that the location had been designated by Israel as a "humanitarian area" and it was not included in areas that Israel's military ordered evacuated earlier this month.
In addition to being designated as a safe zone, there was a question of whether the attack also fell inside the "al-Mawasi humanitarian zone" as announced by Israel. Under the original boundaries, as announced by Israel on 6 December 2023, the attack took place inside the zone. On 6 May, Israel changed the boundaries of this zone. Under the new boundaries, the attack took place outside the humanitarian zone, a fact that was emphasized by the IDF on 27 May. However, Forensic Architecture states that the 6 May change was not effectively communicated to Gazans, including those who had already sought refuge there. Satellite imagery confirmed that new tents continued to be built in this area from 6 to 26 May, indicating Palestinian civilians were unaware that Israel had changed the zone's borders.
Attack
On the night of 26 May, Israeli fighter jets struck the "Kuwaiti Peace" tent camp in Tel al-Sultan. The camp was noted to be from the largest UNRWA humanitarian aid storage warehouse in the Gaza Strip. Multiple people were killed and injured in the initial explosion. Witnesses reported "a deadly hail of shrapnel, then the sound of screaming". A dead woman was later found with shrapnel in her lungs and heart.A witness said that he heard an explosion, walked out of his house, and saw smoke in a nearby street. Survivors of the attack said it "burned people alive" and destroyed an entire block. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said civilians were trapped in the flames. A video verified by NBC News showed Palestinians screaming for help in tents "engulfed by flames" with civil defense crews attempting to stop the fire and rescue people. Other videos displayed burnt corpses, including one of a decapitated child. Paramedics later retrieved these bodies.
It was the deadliest incident of the Rafah offensive. The attack was described as a massacre by multiple media outlets, some of whom referred to it as the Rafah tent massacre or the tent massacre. Israel stated it had targeted a Hamas compound and killed two senior Hamas commanders: the West Bank Chief of Staff Yassin Rabia and senior official Khaled Nagar, "in accordance with international law". John Kirby stated that Hamas confirmed the deaths of the two commanders. However, witnesses speaking to Mondoweiss and CNN said that no militants were found in the camp.
Casualties
The Gaza Health Ministry, stated the attack killed at least 45 people, and ActionAid UK said it killed 50. The GHM said that among the fatalities were at least 12 women, eight children, and three elderly. Doctors Without Borders said that dozens of civilians were injured, with the GHM eventually confirming 65 injuries. It later raised the number of injuries to over 200. Victims of the attack were rushed to the Emirati Hospital, but the GHM said that Rafah hospitals didn't have enough resources to deal with the number of injured people. The only hospital in Rafah had eight beds and no intensive care units.Analysis and investigation
The attack drew multiple independent investigations and analyses from media outlets and military analysts. Egypt, the Palestinian Authority and others concluded that Israel deliberately targeted civilians in the attack. Israel also investigated the incident, saying it was a "tragic mishap". A panel of UN experts said Israel bears responsibility for its actions and calling it a "mistake" after the fact does not make the attack legal. The experts said the Israeli attack was both indiscriminate and disproportionate.Target of the attack
Israel said the target of the attack was a "Hamas compound" with two senior Hamas officials, whom it identified as Yassin Rabia and Khaled Nagar. The IDF said they believed "there were no civilians" in the compound. IDF had earlier released surveillance footage that showed four people standing outside the structure the IDF said they targeted, raising questions on whether they knew of civilians nearby and accepted them as collateral damage. Israeli newspaper Haaretz stated the IDF struck a "dense" area.Satellite image analysis by India Today located the site of the airstrike to "Kuwait Peace Camp", leading the newspaper to conclude "satellite images show Israel targeting Rafah refugee camps". The Washington Post analyzed satellite imagery and found "more than a dozen tent-like structures" around the tin structures targeted. The Guardian located the attack to the "edge of rows of tents" of the Kuwaiti camp, and quoted a resident who said this location was "a medical point surrounded by a lot of tents, in an area with more than 4,000 people". A New York Times investigation concluded that Israel directly struck the camp, saying the metal structures targeted were part of the camp and intended for civilian use. In June, NBC News said that analysis of the attack and interviews with survivors indicated that Israeli commanders should have known there were civilians in the area of the strike. Al Jazeera's fact checking agency concluded the strike deliberately targeted the camp. The Palestinian Authority, Egypt, witnesses and multiple humanitarian groups also said Israel deliberately targeted the refugee camp.
An investigation by Amnesty International found that Yassin Rabia, commander Khuweiled Ramadan, and at least two other Hamas militants were killed, while Khaled Nagar was only injured. It stated that, "Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters were located in the internally-displaced persons’ camp, a location which displaced people believed was a designated 'humanitarian zone', with fighters knowingly endangering the lives of civilians." One source told Amnesty that there were fighters near tents and in a jeep, who may have been the target of the attack. However, Erika Guevara Rosas, senior director of Amnesty, noted that "The Israeli military would have been fully aware that the use of bombs that project deadly shrapnel across hundreds of metres and unguided tank shells would kill and injure a large number of civilians sheltering in overcrowded settings lacking protection."