Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a “tragic mistake” was made in an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah that set fire to a tent camp housing displaced Palestinians.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that a “tragic mistake” was made in an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah that set fire to a camp housing displaced Palestinians and, according to local officials, killed at least 45 people.

The strike only added to the surging international criticism Israel has faced over its war with Hamas, with even its closest allies expressing outrage at civilian deaths. Israel insists it adheres to international law even as it faces scrutiny in the world’s top courts, one of which last week demanded that it halt the offensive in Rafah.

“Despite our utmost efforts not to harm innocent civilians, last night there was a tragic mistake,” Netanyahu said Monday in an address to Israel’s parliament. “We are investigating the incident and will obtain a conclusion because this is our policy.”

Mohammed Abuassa, who rushed to the scene in the northwestern neighborhood of Tel al-Sultan, said rescuers “pulled out people who were in an unbearable state.”

“We pulled out children who were in pieces. We pulled out young and elderly people. The fire in the camp was unreal,” he said.

  • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    984·
    6 months ago

    “Despite our utmost efforts not to harm innocent civilians, last night there was a tragic mistake,” we bombed a densely populated refugee camp which we previously designated as a safe zone and burned women and children alive - Netanyahu said Monday in an address to Israel’s parliament.

      • MxM111@kbin.social
        7101·
        6 months ago

        Honestly, shit happens during the war. Yes, the mistakes should be investigated, guilty punished etc., but it is a big picture which is important, not a few incidents that are easy to use for propaganda and internet points.

        In my mind there are 3 questions that needs to be answered

        1. is war justified?
        2. what is civilian to military kill ratio (basically to see if civilians are killed without care)
        3. what are the goals of the war, what are post war plans

        For the first question, I do not know how anyone with straight face can say that the war is not justified when a neighbor attacks you and purposely and barbarously kills 1300 people and takes about 200 hostages.

        For the second quested, it is urban warfare, and if anyone cares to check, the ratio of 10 to 1 (civilian to military) is quite typical. In this war, Israel achieves ratio of better than 2 to 1, which says to me that IDF is really careful not to kill civilians unnecessarily.

        It is the question (3) where I have problem with right now. Mostly because it is right wing government in Israel and there is no clear out of war path suggested after Hamas is destroyed. But here we can wait and see. Israel is a democracy and I hope her people will make right decision.

        • snooggums@midwest.socialEnglish
          40·
          6 months ago
          is war justified?
what is civilian to military kill ratio (basically to see if civilians are killed without care)
what are the goals of the war, what are post war plans

          For the first question, I do not know how anyone with straight face can say that the war is not justified when a neighbor attacks you and purposely and barbarously kills 1300 people and takes about 200 hostages.

          For those of us with calendars that go back past October 7th the question about justification is a lot more complicated. Don’t forget that Israel has killed more than 10x as many women and children than were killed on October 7th, and have destroyed medical support and denied food and housing to the CIVILIAN population of Gaza as retribution. Also, Israel continues to colonize Palestine violently both as the government and as settler groups supported by the Israeli government.

          If you want to talk retribution, guess what led to October 7th? Both sides are doing horrible shit, but one side has enough power to stop the current ongoing atrocity against the other side’s civilian population and that side it Israel. If they stopped attacking civilians in the ‘safe zones’ and actually let aid and food then I might have some sympathy for them.

          For the second quested, it is urban warfare, and if anyone cares to check, the ratio of 10 to 1 (civilian to military) is quite typical. In this war, Israel achieves ratio of better than 2 to 1, which says to me that IDF is really careful not to kill civilians unnecessarily.

          Yeah, so careful they murdered a Reuters journalist across the border in Lebanon with a tank.

          • MxM111@kbin.social
            12·
            6 months ago

            For total number of casualties I take Hamas number. For militant casualties, Hamas does not give any number, so, I have to use Israeli number as the most reliable. By the way, Israeli number for civilian casualties is also not so far from Hamas.

        • Tryptaminev@lemm.eeEnglish
          191·
          6 months ago

          You are full of shit.

          Stop spreading your zionist propaganda

          The “war” is a genocide and not justified

          There is 10:1 or more Civillians killed per combatant. 2/3 of the victims are women and childen

          This is not typical or good. Even the Nazis had a better ratio at the Eastern Front and they burned down villages and did mass executions of the survivors. But well Israel does too, but before they also bomb everything to crumbs and then burn down the crumbs.

          • MxM111@kbin.social
            15·
            6 months ago

            That’s false. Only half are women and children wiki. Your 10:1 ratio is taken out of your behind, but even that ratio is typical urban warfare ratio. Just Google.

        • BeatTakeshi@lemmy.worldEnglish
          16·
          6 months ago

          Reminder that they tuned Lavender to a ratio of 20 civilian per vaguely suspected hamas member at the beginning of the war, when most deaths occurred. They put the cursor on genocide. You’re a joke with your 2:1 allegations

        • brbposting@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          11·
          6 months ago

          In this war, Israel achieves ratio of better than 2 to 1

          Hamas has been almost halved by the war?

          Hamas: 40k members - Wiki

          Death toll: “As of 21 May 2024, over 37,000 people (35,562 Palestinian and 1,478 Israeli) have been reported as killed in the Israel–Hamas war” - Wiki

          • MxM111@kbin.social
            12·
            6 months ago

            Yes, and with 14,000 militant killed, the civilian number is 35K - 14K = 21K. Civilian to militant casualties is 21:14, or smaller than 2:1. That’s all.

        • scarabic@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          6 months ago

          Israel is a democracy - a democracy that keeps millions of its constituents in an open air prison and occasionally genocides them, but a democracy, and therefore righteous and good.

          I’m glad we cleared that up.