May 27, 2024 - Israel-Hamas war

Our live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has moved here.

Israeli bombings in various areas of Gaza killed at least six people and wounded several others, the Palestinian news agency Wafa said early Tuesday morning, citing medical sources in Gaza.

An Israeli strike on a house in the Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City killed at least two people and wounded others, Wafa said.

Israeli artillery shelling targeting a tent of displaced people in Tal al-Sultan, northwest of Rafah, killed three people and wounded several others, Wafa reported.

Israeli artillery shelling in the city of Rafah killed a young man, according to Wafa.

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment. 

Palestinians assess the destruction after an Israeli strike on an area where displaced people were staying in Rafah on Monday.

International outcry is mounting over Israel’s airstrike on a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah that killed at least 45 people and wounded 200 others, many of whom were women and children.

In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the strike a “tragic error” and said that Israel was investigating the incident.

Footage obtained by CNN showed the camp in flames, with scores of men, women and children frantically trying to find cover from the nighttime assault. Burned bodies, including those of children, could be seen being pulled by rescuers from the wreckage.

The strike came days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt its offensive in the city, and several humanitarian organizations have called on the UN Security Council to enforce the court’s orders, saying “immediate action is required.”

A growing list of countries, world leaders and aid agencies have now condemned the strike, saying “there is no safe space in Gaza.”

Here’s some of the international reactions:

This post has been updated after additional review of the translation from Hebrew to English, to clarify the wording used by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he referred to a deadly Israeli strike on Rafah, Gaza.The word ‘error’ was originally translated as ‘mistake’.

Several global aid organizations penned a joint letter on Monday calling on the UN Security Council to enforce the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) orders that Israel “immediately halt” its military offensive in Rafah.

France and Germany have joined a chorus of growing global outrage over the Israeli’s strike on the displacement camp in Rafah that killed at least 45 people on Sunday, including women and children.

In a post on X, French President Emmanuel Macron said he was “outraged by the Israeli strikes that have killed many displaced persons in Rafah.”

“These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians,” he said. “I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire.”

Germany’s Foreign Office described the “images of charred bodies, including children, from the airstrike” as “unbearable.”

“The exact circumstances must be clarified and an IDF investigation launched swiftly. The civilian population in Gaza must urgently be better protected,” it said in a post on X.

Remember: The Israeli strike hit a displacement camp in southern Gaza’s Rafah, killing at least 45 people and injuring more than 200. Most of those killed and wounded were women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and Palestinian medics. Footage obtained by CNN showed the camp in flames, after a fire broke out at the camp following the strike, with scores of men, women and children frantically trying to find cover from the nighttime assault. 

Relatives of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Rafah mourn in Rafah, Gaza on Monday.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths has harshly criticized Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for calling Sunday’s deadly Israeli airstrike on a Rafah camp housing displaced people “a tragic error.”

At least 45 people were killed and 200 wounded in the airstrike, Gazan authorities said.

Netanyahu said on Monday that the airstrike had gone tragically wrong.

“Despite our best effort not to harm those not involved, unfortunately a tragic error happened last night. We are investigating the case,” the prime minister said in a speech at the Israel parliament.

This post has been updated after additional review of the translation from Hebrew to English, to clarify the wording used by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he referred to a deadly Israeli strike on Rafah, Gaza.The word ‘error’ was originally translated as ‘mistake’.

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting to discuss a deadly Israeli airstrike on a displaced person tent camp in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Sunday, according to a UN diplomat.

The meeting was requested by Algeria, the diplomat said.

The Security Council will hold private discussions on Tuesday afternoon at 3.30 p.m., the diplomat added.

UN Secretary-General Antònio Guterres issued a blistering condemnation on Monday.

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on Monday.

Israel has told the Biden administration that it used a precision munition to hit a target in Rafah on Sunday, but that shrapnel from the explosion ignited a fuel tank nearby and started a fire that engulfed a camp for displaced Palestinians and led to dozens of deaths, a US official told CNN.

The United States has not been able to independently confirm the Israeli explanation, the official said. It is not clear whether the US will conduct its own assessment— throughout the course of the war, the Biden administration has typically relied on Israel to investigate itself and share its findings with US officials.

At least 45 people were killed and 200 were wounded as a result of the Israeli strike. The Israeli military claimed it struck a Hamas compound in the area, killing two senior officials from the militant group.

The Israel Defense Forces also claimed publicly that the target was not located inside the humanitarian area of Rafah where Palestinians were told to move amid Israel’s operations in southern Gaza.

An Israeli airstrike on a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah killed dozens of people on Sunday, prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to call the attack a “tragic mistake.” The Israeli military said it’s investigating the incident in the southern Gaza city.

This comes as global leaders urged Israel to adhere to Friday’s ruling by the International Court of Justice, ordering it to halt its military operations in Rafah.

Here’s what else to know:

Death toll: At least 45 people were killed and over 200 wounded in the strike, according to the Gaza ministry of health. Most of them were women and children, according to the Palestinian authorities. Footage obtained by CNN showed the camp in flames, with scores of men, women and children frantically trying to find cover from the nighttime assault. Burned bodies, including those of children, could be seen being pulled by rescuers from the wreckage.

US response: A National Security Council spokesperson said Monday that the strike was “heartbreaking,” adding that the United States was “actively engaging” with officials in Israel to determine what precisely happened.

International reaction: UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the strike, saying “This horror must stop.” Other international figures who weighed in included French President Emmanuel Macron, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

Another strike: An Israeli airstrike on a home in the Al-Zarqa neighborhood of northern Gaza on Monday killed at least five people, including a 4-year-old girl, according to the Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza. CNN video in the aftermath shows rescue workers sifting through what remained of the building, searching for survivors in near-complete darkness.

Hospital in Rafah closes: The Kuwaiti Hospital in central Rafah was forced to close on Monday after the Israeli military attacks increased around the hospital. Recent, “repeated and deliberate” attacks by Israeli forces had led to the death of two staff working in the hospital, as well as the injury of five medical staff, according to Dr. Suhaib Al-Hims, director of the Kuwaiti hospital. The remaining medical teams were being transferred to a field hospital that is being prepared in the Al-Mawasi area of Gaza, Al-Hims said.

Egypt-Israel tensions: The Israeli attack on the border corridor creates an “uncontrollable situation, in the field and psychologically, that can lead to an escalation,” Egyptian state-affiliated Al-Qahera News reported Monday, citing an Egyptian security source. An Egyptian military spokesperson said a person was killed during a shooting incident. Israel’s military also acknowledged that a shooting occurred.

The Israeli attack on the Philadelphi corridor creates an “uncontrollable situation, in the field and psychologically, that can lead to an escalation,” Egyptian state-affiliated Al-Qahera News reported on Monday, citing an Egyptian security source.

“We warn against compromising the security and safety of Egyptian security personnel deployed on the border,” the source said, as cited by Al-Qahera News.

What’s happening: The relationship between Egypt and Israel became tense after Israeli troops moved into an area known as the Philadelphi Corridor and took control of the Rafah crossing earlier this month. The corridor is a 14-kilometer (about 8.7-mile) long and 100-meter-wide strip along the border between Gaza and Egypt.

Egypt’s military spokesperson said a person was killed during a shooting incident Monday on the border. Israel’s military also acknowledged that a “shooting incident” had occurred. Investigations are underway.

The Kuwaiti Hospital in central Rafah was forced to close on Monday after the Israeli military attacks increased around the hospital.

The remaining medical teams were being transferred to a field hospital that is being prepared in the Al-Mawasi area of Gaza, Al-Hims said.

Earlier on Monday, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that an Israeli drone strike killed two staff members while they were on duty in front of the gate. They were identified as Rashid Mohammed Saeed Barhoum, 23, and Musab Sami Dakhlallah Al-Araj, 22.

Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) strongly denounced Sunday’s deadly Israeli airstrike on a Rafah camp housing displaced people and called for an “immediate and sustained ceasefire” in Gaza.

The airstrike came “just a few days after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to halt all military operations in Rafah,” MSF noted in a statement Monday.

MSF said the airstrike on the camp “shows the complete disregard for the lives of civilians in Gaza.”

“We are shocked by the continuous attacks on civilians, and we have no word to describe the horror of what we’ve seen here in Gaza,” Gaia Giletta, MSF nurse activity manager, said in a voice note from Gaza.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the airstrike had gone tragically wrong.

“Despite our best effort not to harm those not involved, unfortunately a tragic mistake happened last night. We are investigating the case,” Netanyahu said in a speech at the Israeli parliament Monday.

At least 45 people were killed and 200 wounded in the the Israeli strike, according to the government media office in Gaza.

Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians in Rafah, in this still picture taken from a video, on Sunday.

Children and women living in makeshift tents were among those killed in an Israeli airstrike on a camp for displaced people in Rafah on Sunday, according to a statement on social media from a top UN official.

The reporting is based on open-source photos and videos which were shared with UNRWA, including from social media, UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma told CNN.

The scenes from the city in southern Gaza are harrowing, Lazzarini said Monday, adding reports of more casualties continue to come.

The strike: At least 45 people were killed and 200 wounded after the Israeli strike hit a camp for displaced people, according to the government media office in Gaza. 

Some UNWA staff in Rafah are unaccounted for and it has been challenging for the organization to establish contact with UNRWA teams in Rafah on Monday.

“The military operation in Rafah must immediately end,” Lazzarini said, adding he was dismayed by the “lack of implementation of the recent order of the International Court of Justice regarding Rafah.”

The ICJ on Friday ordered Israel to “immediately halt” its military offensive in Rafah.

This post contains graphic descriptions of injuries.

An Israeli airstrike on a home in the Al-Zarqa neighborhood of northern Gaza on Monday killed at least five people, including a 4-year-old girl, according to the Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza.

CNN video in the aftermath shows ambulances arriving at the scene, with paramedics, rescue workers, and local people clambering on top of the destroyed building.

The building was struck at 1:30 a.m., flattening the house, rescue workers said. Video shows, large pieces of metal and concrete that made up the structure crumpled in a heap of jagged debris.

Rescue workers are shown sifting through what remained of the building searching for survivors in near complete darkness, but they find no one alive.

They carefully and respectfully retrieve the dead from under the rubble, including the body of a girl, Qamar Al-Batran, who is 4 years old.

Carrying a flashlight and basic materials, a civil defense worker is seen trying to pull the young girl’s body from under the rubble but struggles with a cement ceiling pressing down on her lower body. He says he needs a large hammer to break it down.

The girl is seen being carried and taken on a stretcher to the front of the building where the ambulances are waiting. A couple of women rush to the ambulance, hug the girl’s body and scream out in horror at the sight.

Palestinians gather on Monday at the site of an Israeli strike in Rafah.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Sunday’s deadly Israeli airstrike on a Rafah camp had gone tragically wrong.

At least 45 people were killed and 200 wounded after the Israeli strike hit a camp for displaced people, according to the government media office in Gaza.

The Israeli military’s General Staff’s Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism is investigating an airstrike carried out in Rafah on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Monday.

This post has been updated after additional review of the translation from Hebrew to English, to clarify the wording used by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he referred to a deadly Israeli strike on Rafah, Gaza. The word ‘error’ was originally translated as ‘mistake’.

The United Nation’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has decried Israel’s “horrific” strike on a camp housing displaced people in Rafah on Sunday. 

“The images from the camp are horrific and point to no apparent change in the methods and means of warfare used by Israel that have already led to so many civilian deaths,” Türk said in a statement Monday. 

Türk echoed remarks given by his UN colleague, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) spokesperson Juliette Touma to CNN earlier Monday, highlighting how the strike shows “there is literally no safe place in Gaza.” 

Despite noting the Israeli military’s plans to carry out a review into the strike, Türk called it “shockingly clear” that the decision to strike an area “densely packed with civilians” resulted in the “entirely predictable outcome” of at least 45 deaths. 

The top UN official called on Israel to abide by the order from the International Court of Justice last week and halt its ground offensive in Rafah entirely. He also urged Palestinian armed groups to stop firing rockets indiscriminately into Israel “in clear violation of international humanitarian law” and release all of the hostages held in Gaza “at once.” 

European Council President Charles Michel on Monday also called the strikes “horrendous” and urged Israel to stop its offensive in Rafah. 

“Horrendous to see innocent Palestinian civilians killed in the recent attack. There is no safe zone for the internally displaced in Rafah,” Michel said on X.

At a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels, Turkey has argued that recognition of a Palestinian state should not be contingent on negotiations with Israel, according to a Turkish diplomatic source.

Delaying recognition “only buys more time for Israel,” the source told CNN. 

Turkey also pressed for sustainable financing for the Palestinian Authority, the source said, adding that Israel is freezing Palestinian revenues as a method of exerting pressure.

CNN has asked the Israeli government for comment on those claims.

Turkey also criticized the low level of international aid, saying: “What is being done under the name of aid to Palestinians is similar to keeping a tortured person barely alive with an IV.”

Palestinians gather on Monday at the site of an Israeli strike in Rafah.

An Israeli strike in Rafah that left dozens of civilians dead is “heartbreaking,” a National Security Council spokesperson said on Monday, adding the US was “actively engaging” with officials in Israel to determine what precisely happened.

The official added that the US is actively engaged with Israel Defense Forces on the ground “to assess what happened, and understand that the IDF is conducting an investigation.”

Here’s what we know: At least 45 people were killed and 200 were wounded in an Israeli strike on a camp for displaced people in Rafah on Sunday, according to Gazan authorities. The Israeli military claimed it struck a Hamas compound in the area, killing two senior officials from the militant group.

Remember: The US has repeatedly warned Israel against a large-scale ground invasion of Rafah without a plan to protect the million-plus civilians who are sheltering there.

Speaking following a visit to Israel last week, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said he had detected “refinements” to Israel’s plan, which he said was now more “targeted and limited” in scale.

US President Joe Biden has said he would not provide heavy bombs to Israel in support of a Rafah operation, but has recently approved a $1 billion military aid package that includes tank ammunition and mortar rounds.

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah, Gaza, on May 27.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it is investigating the airstrike that killed dozens of people in Rafah on Sunday, according to Gazan authorities.

In a statement Monday, the IDF said its General Staff’s Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism had launched an investigation into the “circumstances of the deaths of civilians in the area of the strike.”

The mechanism is an independent body responsible for examining allegations of misconduct in conflict. Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi ordered the investigation to be carried out, the IDF said.

Some background: At least 45 people were killed and 200 wounded after the strike hit a camp for displaced people, according the government media office in Gaza.

The IDF said the attack was conducted based on “prior intelligence” indicating that senior officials of Hamas’s West Bank wing were present at the site, and that it had assessed there would be “no expected harm to civilians.”

Palestinians with disabilities in Gaza fear they will be killed first because of limited opportunities to flee due to their impairment, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons and Disabilities (CRPD) said in a release on Monday.

Among the examples cited was that of a 14-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who had lost her assistive devices, including a wheelchair, and had to be carried by her parents while fleeing from the north of Gaza to the south amid Israel’s offensive.

At one point, the girl told her family: “Leave me here, and you run away,” the committee said. The girl survived but is at risk of being displaced again, it added.

The CPRD called for an immediate ceasefire and underscored the obligation to the Convention on the Rights of Persons and Disabilities, which calls for all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of people with disabilities in situations of risk, including in armed conflict.

CNN has previously reported on the struggles of disabled Palestinians in Gaza. Read more here.