Amnesty calls for war crimes investigation into Israeli attacks on Rafah tent camp
Amnesty International is calling for a war crimes investigation into an Israeli attack that killed at least 36 Palestinians sheltering in tents in west Rafah on May 26, including a toddler and a woman who were decapitated by metal fragments.
Amnesty weapons experts who analysed photographs taken after the attack found Israeli forces dropped US-made 113kg (249 pound) GBU-39s, “capable of throwing metal fragments hundreds of metres”.
Amnesty said it identified four fighters killed in the attack, but questioned Israel’s claim it used “the smallest munitions which can be launched by fighter jets” and said it appeared the attack was likely “disproportionate and indiscriminate”.
“The Israeli military would have been fully aware that the use of bombs that project deadly shrapnel across hundreds of metres … would kill and injure a large number of civilians,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research and Advocacy.
“Under international humanitarian law, the presence of fighters in the targeted area does not absolve the Israeli military of its obligations to protect civilians,” she added.
The Israeli attack caused tents where displaced Palestinians were sleeping to catch fire in Tal as-Sultan in west Rafah on May 26, killing at least 36 and injuring many more
Amnesty says Israeli tanks fired at Palestinians sheltering in tents
Amnesty also looked at a second attack, which occurred on May 28, in the al-Mawasi area of Rafah.
In that attack, Amnesty says 23 civilians, including 12 children, seven women and four men, were killed when Israeli tanks fired at least three shells at an “area full of civilians sheltering in tents”.
Two of the people killed included 42-year-old taxi driver Ashraf Mohammed Ali and his son Amir, 11.
Ali’s wife Isra, told Amnesty she “heard a deafening sound” as she was preparing a simple lunch for her family on the day of the attack. “Children, including my son Amir, were torn to shreds,” she said. “We don’t know why this place was hit.”
