Closing summary
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
At least 45 people have been killed after an Israeli airstrike that caused a huge blaze at a tented area for displaced people in Rafah, medics have said. Gaza’s health ministry said about half of the dead were women, children and older adults. The Israeli strike, one of the deadliest single incidents in the eight-month war to date, came two days after the international court of justice’s ruling ordering Israel to stop its operation in Rafah immediately.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, described the Rafah airstrike as a “tragic mishap” and vowed to continue fighting in Gaza. He claimed the incident occurred “despite our best efforts not to hurt them”. Israel’s top military prosecutor described the aistrike as “very grave” and said an investigation was under way. The Israeli military said its air force struck a Hamas compound and that the attack was carried out with “precise ammunition and on the basis of precise intelligence”. Hundreds of people gathered in Israeli cities on Monday following the Rafah attack to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Images of charred and dismembered children in Rafah after the Israeli strike have caused an outcry from global leaders and put ceasefire talks in jeopardy. Qatar, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas in attempts to secure a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages, said the Rafah casualties would complicate the protracted negotiations. Israeli media reported that Hamas had decided to pull out of the latest proposed talks over what its senior leadership described as a massacre.
The US, Israel’s staunchest ally and weapons supplier, described the images from the aftermath of the Rafah attack as “devastating” and “heartbreaking”. A statement from a US national security spokesperson said: “Israel has a right to go after Hamas … but as we’ve been clear, Israel must take every precaution possible to protect civilians.”
EU foreign ministers have agreed to call a meeting with Israel to discuss its actions in its military offensive in Rafah, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has said. Borrell said he was “horrified” by the news coming out of Rafah following the Israeli airstrike on Sunday, adding that “there is no safe place in Gaza”. He also said he had received preliminary approval from ministers to revive an EU civilian mission in Rafah.
The UN Palestinian refugee agency, Unrwa, said reports of attacks on families seeking shelter in Rafah were “horrifying”. The UN’s humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, warned Israel that “such impunity cannot continue” after the deadly Rafah airstrike. The head of the UN children’s agency (Unicef), Catherine Russell, said the reported killing of children sheltering in makeshift tents was “unconscionable”. The UN’s Middle East envoy, Tor Wennesland, urged Israel to conduct a “thorough and transparent” investigation”.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said he is “outraged” by the Israeli airstrike on Rafah. “These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian citizens. I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire,” he posted to X on Monday. Italy’s defence minister, Guido Crosetto, said Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians in Gaza were no longer justifiable in one of the strongest criticisms Rome has made so far against Israel’s war.
Desperately needed aid deliveries to Gaza have ground to a halt, as the Rafah border crossing, and the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing are in effect blocked by the fierce fighting. About 200 aid trucks were supposed to enter Gaza through Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing on Sunday after an agreement was reached with Egypt, but UN and Palestinian officials said on Monday that no aid supplies have been distributed.
At least one person was killed and several civilians injured after an Israeli strike targeting a motorcycle in southern Lebanon on Monday hit next to a hospital entrance, local health officials said. Most of those injured were “civilians who were in front of the hospital”, the director of the Salah Ghandour hospital in Bint Jbeil said.
An Egyptian border guard was killed in a shooting near the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces are deployed, according to Egypt’s military. Israel’s military said it was investigating reports of an exchange of fire between Israeli and Egyptian soldiers. Security incidents between the two countries have been rare but tensions have soared since Israeli forces seized the Rafah crossing.
Updated
Catherine Russell, the head of the UN children’s agency (Unicef) has described the Israeli airstrike on Sunday that reportedly killed children sheltering in makeshift tents in Rafah as “unconscionable”.
In a statement posted to X, Russell called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the unconditional release of all hostages, and an end to the “senseless killing of children”. She wrote:
Images of burned children & families emerging from bombed tents in Rafah shocks us all. The reported killing of children sheltering in makeshift tents is unconscionable. For over 7 months, we’ve witnessed this tragedy unfold, resulting in thousands of children killed or injured.
Images of burned children & families emerging from bombed tents in #Rafah shocks us all. The reported killing of children sheltering in makeshift tents is unconscionable. For over 7 months, we've witnessed this tragedy unfold, resulting in thousands of children killed or injured.
— Catherine Russell (@unicefchief) May 27, 2024
Hundreds of people gathered in Israeli cities on Monday to protest against the country’s offensive in Rafah and call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
More than 100 Israelis took to the streets in Tel Aviv after a deadly airstrike on a tent camp in Rafah that Gaza officials said killed at least 45 people, Haaretz reported.
Protesters held signs that read “Stop bombing Rafah,” and “withdraw from Rafah and Gaza” while right-wing counter-protesters shouted “traitors”, “shame”, and “go protest in Gaza” at them, it said. From Haaretz’s David Issacharoff:
‘Stop bombing Rafah:’ Over 100 Israelis are protesting Israel’s Rafah offensive in Tel Aviv and are calling for an immediate Gaza ceasefire. A right wing protester infiltrated the crowd and began physically assaulting the protesters, no police are at the scene pic.twitter.com/46J7Sz3Zgo
— David Issacharoff (@davidiss) May 27, 2024
In Israel’s northern city of Haifa, about 250 protesters called for an end to the war in Gaza, the Israeli paper said.
Police arrested three protesters and also confiscated a Palestinian flag and signs that read “stop the massacre” and “this is what a genocide is”, it said.
UN humanitarian chief warns 'such impunity cannot continue' after Israeli strike on Rafah
Martin Griffiths, the UN’s humanitarian chief, has warned Israel that “such impunity cannot continue” after a strike that Gaza officials said killed 45 people in Rafah.
Griffiths, in a statement posted to X, said many women and children were reportedly “burned alive” as a result of the fire that ripped through the tent city for displaced Palestinians.
Griffiths also noted that the UN has been unable to pick up humanitarian aid from Israel’s Kerem Shalom at the scale needed “due to impediments and active fighting”. He urged:
Protect civilians. Allow them to find safety. Allow them to get aid.
Another grim update from #Gaza.
— Martin Griffiths (@UNReliefChief) May 27, 2024
Such impunity cannot continue. pic.twitter.com/dPjmApmIuV
Israel’s military has said that Sunday’s airstrike had targeted and killed two senior Hamas operative, but it also sparked a fire that Palestinians and many Arab countries condemned as a “massacre”.
Updated
Canada will grant temporary visas to 5,000 residents in Gaza under a special programme for Canadians’ relatives living in the war-torn Palestinian territory, the country’s immigration minister Marc Miller said.
Movement out of Gaza is currently not possible; the Canadian announcement is a preparatory move in case people are able to leave the enclave in the future.
A statement by Miller reads:
We remain deeply concerned about the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Gaza. Many people are worried about their loved ones and have expressed significant interest in the temporary special measures we introduced for their extended family in Gaza.
Canada has been sharing the names of people in Gaza who have passed preliminary screening to local authorities to secure their exit, he added.
A spokesperson for Miller said 448 residents of Gaza had been issued a temporary visa, including 254 under a public policy, and 41 have arrived in Canada so far, Reuters reported.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, also said he had received preliminary approval from ministers to revive an EU civilian mission in Rafah in southern Gaza.
The EU is considering relaunching its European Union Border Assistance Mission (Eubam), which was suspended in 2007, to monitor the Rafah border crossing from Gaza to Egypt.
The Rafah crossing is the main entry point for aid to Gaza from Egypt, and has been closed since Israel took control of the crossing from the Palestinian side nearly three weeks ago.
Reviving the mission “could play a useful role in supporting the entry of people into Gaza, in and out,” Borrell said at a monthly meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday, Reuters reported. Borrell added:
But this has to be done in accordance with the Palestinian Authority, the Egyptians, and obviously Israel’s authorities. We are not going to do that alone. We are not going to be the outsourcers of the security in the border. We are not a security company.
EU calls for Israel to explain Rafah offensive
EU foreign ministers have agreed to call a meeting with Israel to discuss its actions in its military offensive in Rafah, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has said.
AFP reported Borrell saying on Monday:
We got the necessary unanimity to call for an association council with Israel to discuss the situation in Gaza.
The meeting with Israel would be held under an association agreement with the EU. Spain and Ireland have called on the EU to review the agreement over Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
Borrell earlier said he was “horrified” by the Israeli airstrike on a camp housing displaced Palestinians in Rafah, which Gaza officials said killed at least 45 people.
Nikki Haley, the former US ambassador to the UN and Republican presidential candidate, visited the southern Israeli city of Sderot on Monday as well as nearby sites attacked during the Hamas attacks on 7 October.
Haley landed in Israel on Sunday for a trip that will include talks with senior Israeli officials, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Touring communities affected by the 7 October attacks, Haley emphasized the importance of unwavering US support for Israel, i24news reported. She said:
What America needs to understand is, when Israel’s fighting our enemies, how can we not help them? The sure way to not help Israel is to withhold weapons. The sure way to not help Israel is to praise the [international criminal court] or the [international court of justice] or any of those that are condemning Israel instead of condemning what happened.
She added that America “needs to do whatever Israel needs and stop telling them how to fight this war”, adding that “you’re either a friend or you’re not a friend”.
An Egyptian border guard was killed in a shooting near the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces are deployed, according to a statement by Egypt’s military spokesperson.
As we reported earlier, Egypt’s military said authorities are investigating a shooting near the Rafah border on Monday that led to the killing of one person. A statement by the Egyptian military, reported by AFP, reads:
The Egyptian armed forces, through the competent authorities, are investigating a shooting incident in the Rafah border area which led to the martyrdom of a guard.
Israel’s military had earlier said it was investigating reports of an exchange of fire between Israeli and Egyptian soldiers.
Security incidents between the two countries have been rare, Reuters reported.
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, but Cairo has been keen to remain in solidarity with the Palestinians and tensions have soared since Israeli forces seized the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
US urges Israel to 'take every precaution' to protect civilians after 'devastating' Rafah strike
The US urges Israel to take every precaution to protect civilians in Gaza after “devastating images” from the Israeli airstrike on a camp for displaced Palestinians, the White House has said.
Reuters cited a US national security council spokesperson as saying:
Israel has a right to go after Hamas, and we understand this strike killed two senior Hamas terrorists who are responsible for attacks against Israeli civilians. But as we’ve been clear, Israel must take every precaution possible to protect civilians.
The spokesperson added that the US is “actively engaging” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and partners on the ground “to assess what happened” in Rafah.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have said they launched attacks on three ships in the Indian Ocean and two US destroyers in the Red Sea.
Netanyahu says deadly Rafah airstrike a 'tragic mishap'
Benjamin Netanyahu has described the deadly Israeli airstrike on a camp for displaced Palestinians in the southern Gaza city of Rafah as a “tragic mishap”.
“We are investigating the case, that is our policy,” Netanyahu said in a speech at the Knesset on Monday, Haaretz reported.
The Israeli leader added that “for us, every uninvolved [being hurt] is a tragedy,” it added. He claimed the incident occurred “despite our best efforts not to hurt them”.
Officials in Gaza say at least 45 people were killed after the Israeli airstrike hit tents housing displaced people. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it is investigating the strike.
Netanyahu remained defiant during his speech and vowed to continue fighting in Gaza despite international condemnation of its offensive in Rafah and Friday’s ruling by the international court of justice ordering it to immediately stop.
“I will keep fighting until the flag of victory is raised,” Netanyahu said, the Times of Israel reported.
I don’t intend to end the war before every goal has been achieved. If we give in, the massacre will return.
Updated
No supplies of humanitarian aid have been distributed in Gaza today despite more than 100 aid trucks reaching the Palestinian territory by this morning, Reuters reported.
Citing Egyptian security sources, it said 123 aid trucks had crossed Israel’s Kerem Shalom border crossing and handed over the goods to the UN. Four fuel trucks had also crossed the border, according to an Egyptian aid source.
An Israeli source confirmed to the news agency that aid had been brought into the Gaza side and handed over to partners.
But Palestinian trucks that went to pick up the aid at the crossing returned empty, UN and Palestinian officials said. A UN official was quoted as saying:
Trucks moved through but it was not possible to collect them due to the rocket attacks yesterday and the IAF (Israeli air force) strikes overnight.
Aid deliveries are badly needed as very little aid has reached southern Gaza since 6 May, when Israel seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing.
The latest trucks came after an agreement on Friday to reroute aid through Israel’s Kerem Shalom border crossing until arrangements were made to re-open the Rafah crossing.
The latest arrivals would be the biggest aid delivery into southern Gaza by far since the launch of Israel’s attacks in Rafah.
Israel has increased the number of indiscriminate attacks on Gaza since the international court of justice’s ruling on Friday ordering it to immediately halt its offensive on Rafah, Oxfam’s humanitarian leader has said.
The situation in Gaza is “beyond catastrophic”, Magnus Corfixen told Sky News. He warned that “more people will be losing their lives” – many of those women and children – with Israel’s military offensive on Gaza’s southern city, adding:
Things will just keep on getting worse.
He said aid groups like Oxfam first and foremost need fuel to operate the trucks carrying humanitarian aid, as well as warehouses “and we need to be able to operate safely and securely and that has been a massive challenge.”
The UN’s Middle East envoy, Tor Wennesland, has condemned the Israeli strike on a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah and urged Israel to conduct a “thorough and transparent” investigation”.
In a statement posted to X, Wennesland said he was “deeply troubled by the deaths of so many women and children in an area where people have sought shelter”.
I condemn last night’s #Israel|i airstrikes which hit tents for displaced people in the southern #Gaza city of Rafah & have tragically led to the reported loss of more than 35 #Palestine|ian lives, incl. women & children.
— Tor Wennesland (@TWennesland) May 27, 2024
Read my full statement here👇 pic.twitter.com/UK2dInpW2N
Moussa Faki Mahamat, the head of the African Union commission, said the Israeli air strike on a camp for displaced Palestinian people in Rafah reflected “contempt” for a recent ruling by the UN’s top court ordering Israel to halt its assault on the southern Gaza city.
Faki, in a statement posted to X, wrote:
With horrific overnight airstrikes killing mostly Palestinian women & children... the State of Israel continues to violate international law with impunity and in contempt of an ICJ (International Court of Justice) ruling two days ago ordering an end to its military action in Rafah.
“The ICJ order must be urgently enforced if global order is to prevail,” he added.
With horrific overnight airstrikes killing mostly Palestinian women & children trapped in a displacement camp in #Rafah,the State of Israel continues to violate international law with impunity and in contempt of an ICJ ruling two days ago ordering an end to its military action in…
— Moussa Faki Mahamat (@AUC_MoussaFaki) May 27, 2024
Here are some of the latest images coming out of Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, where officials say at least 45 people have been killed after an Israeli airstrike hit tents housing displaced Palestinians.
Updated
Summary of the day so far...
Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said he was “horrified by news coming out of Rafah on Israeli strikes killing dozens of displaced persons, including small children.” “I condemn this in the strongest terms,” he said, adding: “There is no safe place in Gaza. These attacks must stop immediately. ICJ orders & IHL must be respected by all parties.” The latest Israeli airstrikes in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah killed at least 45 Palestinians and injured dozens of others, according to officials. Most of the people who were killed were women, children or elderly. The attack took place in the Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood, where thousands were sheltering after Israeli forces began a ground offensive in the east of Rafah over two weeks ago.
Israel’s top military prosecutor called the airstrike “very grave” and said an investigation was under way. Israel’s army had said overnight that its aircraft had “struck a Hamas compound in Rafah”, killing Yassin Rabia and Khaled Nagar, both senior officials for the Palestinian militant group in the occupied West Bank.
Italy said Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians in Gaza were no longer justifiable in one of the strongest criticisms Rome has made so far against Israel’s war on the enclave. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, joined the wave of condemnation, saying that he was “outraged” by the Israeli airstrikes on the camp. “These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian citizens. I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire,” he wrote in a tweet on X.
An Israeli strike targeting a motorcycle in southern Lebanon on Monday hit next to a hospital entrance, killing at least one person and injuring several civilians who were gathered outside, local health officials said. The strike killed the motorcycle driver in the town of Bint Jbeil, according to the Associated Press. It was not immediately clear who the driver was.
Egypt’s military spokesperson said that authorities are carrying out an investigation into a shooting near the Rafah border that led to the killing of one person. The Israeli military said earlier that it was investigating reports of an exchange of fire between Israeli and Egyptian soldiers close to the Rafah border crossing with Gaza.
The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency, Unrwa, has said that reports of attacks on families seeking shelter in Rafah in southern Gaza were “horrifying”. “There are reports of mass casualties including children and women among those killed. Gaza is hell on earth. Images from last night are yet another testament to that,” Unrwa wrote on X.
Relations between the EU and Israel took a nosedive on the eve of the diplomatic recognition of a Palestinian state by EU members Ireland and Spain. Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, told Spain that its consulate in Jerusalem will not be allowed to help Palestinians. EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell threw his full weight to support the international criminal court, whose prosecutor is seeking an arrest warrant against prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others, including the leader of Hamas.
The international criminal court should investigate as war crimes three Israeli airstrikes that killed 44 Palestinian civilians, including 32 children, in the Gaza Strip last month, Amnesty International said. The strikes – one on al-Maghazi on 16 April, and two on the southern city of Rafah on 19 and 20 April 2024 – also injured at least 20 civilians, the organisation said.
Israel is investigating the deaths of Palestinians captured during the war in Gaza, as well as a military-run detention camp where a human rights group has alleged abuse of inmates, the armed forces’ chief prosecutor said.
Updated
Egypt investigates shooting on Rafah border
Egypt’s military spokesperson said on Monday that authorities are carrying out an investigation into a shooting near the Rafah border that led to the killing of one person.
The Israeli military said earlier that it was investigating reports of an exchange of fire between Israeli and Egyptian soldiers close to the Rafah border crossing with Gaza.
“A few hours ago (Monday), a shooting incident occurred on the Egyptian border. The incident is under review and discussions are being held with the Egyptians,” the military said in a statement without elaborating.
Lisa O’Carroll is the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent
Sharon Kalderon, sister-in-law of Ofer Kalderon, 53, who was kidnapped from his home with other family members including his children, who were subsequently released, made an impassioned plea to EU leaders to remember Israeli hostages are suffering just as much as Palestinians in Gaza.
“All the world is talking about the humanitarian situation of the Palestinians. No one is talking about the humanitarian situation of the hostages. No one,” she said at a press conference in Brussels as EU foreign ministers were meeting to discuss the Middle East.
She said families have been waiting more than 230 days for any snippet of news about their loved ones while others worry about the health of women who had been raped and were possibly impregnated 8 months ago.
“No one saw them,” she said of the hostages held by Hamas. Her brother in law is a dual French national.
“No one knows what happened to them. They didn’t see the Red Cross. They didn’t see anyone that can tell us something about them. And this is already almost eight months. Now think about the women over there that were raped on 7 October, and [think] we are very, very close to the nine months. We know also that the men got raped over there. Thank God, they cannot get pregnant. But what about the women?”
The delegation of relatives was in Brussels to meet Hungarian and German officials to try to advance the release of their family members.
The United Arab Emirates has condemned what it said was Israel targeting tents of displaced people in Rafah, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
It stressed the importance of implementing the international court of justice’s ruling that demanded Israel immediately halt its offensive in Rafah.
Officials in Gaza said the death toll had risen to 45 from the overnight Israeli strikes on Rafah, which sparked fires that burned displaced people alive in their tents, many of them women and children.
Cochav Willian Levinson, whose 19-year-old son, Shay Levinson, was kidnapped and killed after the 7 October Hamas attack has urged the world not to conflate Hamas with freedom fighters for Palestine.
Sitting with his daughter Mika, he told reporters in Brussels that the EU could be “a knight in shining armour” who could help the release of all 125 remaining hostages.
“Make no mistake, Hamas is a terrorist organisation. It is a tyrannical, extreme Muslim terrorist organisation. It is not a freedom fighter. Hamas doesn’t even pretend to care about its own people and you can see that by their own actions,” he said.
“Look at these pictures. Hamas has reduced our loved ones to pieces of paper. Hamas is using our loved ones as playing cards in some sort of twisted game and I think that every decent human being must cry out that this is not normal.”
He said the relatives of the families would meet any representatives that would talk to them including Ireland and Spain who have been so vocal on the plight of Palestine.
They had met with officials from Hungary and were due to meet a German delegation later on Monday.
Updated
Lisa O’Carroll is the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent
Families of four victims of Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel last October have arrived in Brussels to raise awareness of the plight of hostages at the highest level in the EU.
Mazy Zafrani, aunt of 26-year-old Noa Argamani, who was kidnapped from the Nova festival on 7 October said:
“Noa has been in captivity for 234 days, her mother is very very sick, her only wish is to met her again at least for one hour to give her a hug and be with her.”
She is an only child and her mother has terminal brain cancer, representatives of the Israel foreign affairs minister said.
“We don’t know much about Noa since the video was released in January,” her aunt said.
“We have no other sings from Noa, we don’t know if she is alive, we have no information, not from any international organisation, not from the Red Cross, not from anyone.”
On the verge of tears, she said: This war is very tough for both sides. There are tragedies on both sides. We pray this blood bath will end soon.”
On her right was Sharon Kalderon, the sister in law of Ofer Kalderon, who was kidnapped with his children who were subsequently released.
She said people in Europe needed to understand their suffering as the hostages were rarely spoken about when it came to the Middle East and yet they had no information on their loved ones.
Italy says attacks against civilians in Gaza cannot be justified
Italy said on Monday Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians in Gaza were no longer justifiable in one of the strongest criticisms Rome has made so far against Israel’s war on the enclave.
“There is an increasingly difficult situation, in which the Palestinian people are being squeezed without regard for the rights of innocent men, women and children who have nothing to do with Hamas and this can no longer be justified,” the country’s defence minister, Guido Crosetto, told SkyTG24 TV.
Crosetto said that a difference had to be made between Hamas, the Palestinian militant group responsible for the 7 October attacks on Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed, and the Palestinian people.
The latest Israeli airstrikes in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah killed at least 45 Palestinians and injured dozens of others, according to officials. Most of the people who were killed were women, children or elderly.
Israel said the attack was aimed at a Hamas compound, though its top military prosecutor called it “very grave” and said the army regretted any harm to non-combatants.
Italy has repeatedly said that Israel had a right to defend itself from Hamas. Last week, Rome said an international criminal court prosecutor’s decision to seek an arrest warrant for Israeli leaders was “unacceptable”.
Israeli attack on Rafah tent camp kills at least 45 Palestinians, officials say
The death toll from the Israeli airstrike on a camp for displaced Palestinian people in the southern Gaza city of Rafah has been increased by officials to 45 (from an earlier total of 40).
The attack took place in the Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood, where thousands were sheltering after Israeli forces began a ground offensive in the east of Rafah over two weeks ago.
More than half of those who were killed were women, children, and elderly people, health officials in Gaza said, adding that the death toll was likely to rise as more people caught in the blaze were in critical condition with severe burns.
Israel’s top military prosecutor called the airstrike “very grave” and said an investigation was under way.
Israeli tanks continued to bombard eastern and central areas of the city in southern Gaza on Monday, killing eight, local health officials said.
Israel has pressed ahead with an offensive on the southernmost part of the strip despite an order from the UN’s top court on Friday to halt the assault, which it said was worsening an already “disastrous” humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory.
Israel launched its assault on Rafah this month, forcing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee Gaza’s southernmost city, which had become a relative refuge to about half of the territory’s 2.3 million people.
Rafah has also been the main route in for aid, and international organisations say the Israeli operation has cut off the territory and raised the risk of famine.
Updated
Israeli strike in southern Lebanon kills one person and injures several civilians, officials say
An Israeli strike targeting a motorcycle in southern Lebanon on Monday hit next to a hospital entrance, killing at least one person and injuring several civilians who were gathered outside, local health officials said.
The strike killed the motorcycle driver in the town of Bint Jbeil, according to the Associated Press (AP). It was not immediately clear who the driver was.
Mohammed Suleiman, director of the Salah Ghandour hospital in Bint Jbeil, said they had received one person who had been killed and nine injured in the strike, most of whom were “civilians who were in front of the hospital, where family members and people accompanying the patients usually gather”.
Two of the injured people were in “highly sensitive” condition, he said. The strike also caused minor damage to the hospital, an AP photographer at the scene said.
EU's foreign policy chief says he is 'horrified' by Israeli airstrikes on Rafah
Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said he is “horrified by news coming out of Rafah on Israeli strikes killing dozens of displaced persons, including small children.”
“I condemn this in the strongest terms,” he said, adding: “There is no safe place in Gaza. These attacks must stop immediately. ICJ orders & IHL must be respected by all parties.”
Horrified by news coming out of #Rafah on Israeli strikes killing dozens of displaced persons, including small children. I condemn this in the strongest terms.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) May 27, 2024
There is no safe place in Gaza. These attacks must stop immediately. ICJ orders & IHL must be respected by all parties.
An Al Jazeera correspondent has reported that “continuous” Israeli shelling has targeted the Bir an-Naaja area, west of the Jabaliya refugee camp, in northern Gaza.
Residents in Jabaliya also reported ground fighting earlier on Sunday.
Haaretz reports that one person was injured in a stabbing in Jerusalem, and that a suspect was shot.
Updated
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has criticised the country’s government, saying it “is not winning in the war with Hamas and Hezbollah, so it has declared a war on reality”.
ביום רביעי האחרון הקואליציה הצביעה, העבירה החלטה שלפיה חברון וקרית ארבע זה בנגב. ההחלטה הזו תהיה יום אחד סמל התקופה.
— יאיר לפיד - Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) May 27, 2024
סמל של ממשלה שאיבדה את הדרום ואיבדה את הצפון, איבדה את מטולה ואיבדה את קיבוץ בארי. היא לא מנצחת במלחמה עם החמאס והחיזבאללה, אז היא הכריזה מלחמה על המציאות.
Updated
Macron says he is 'outraged' over Israeli airstrikes on camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said that he is “outraged” by the Israeli airstrikes – on a camp housing displaced Palestinians in Rafah – that are reported to have killed at least 40 people.
“These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian citizens. I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire,” he wrote in a tweet on X.
Outraged by the Israeli strikes that have killed many displaced persons in Rafah.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) May 27, 2024
These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians.
I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said Sunday’s airstrike targeted tents for displaced people near a UN facility in Tal al-Sultan, about 2km (1.2 miles) north-west of the centre of the southern city of Rafah.
Summary of the day so far...
Gaza’s civil defence agency said that the death toll had risen to 40 from overnight Israeli strikes that set ablaze tents of displaced Palestinian people in the southern city of Rafah. The agency said that many bodies were “charred” after the strikes triggered a fire that ripped through a displacement centre in northwest Rafah. Qatar’s foreign ministry said the strikes could hinder mediation efforts to reach a ceasefire in the conflict and to secure a hostage release deal.
Israel’s army had said overnight that its aircraft had “struck a Hamas compound in Rafah”, killing Yassin Rabia and Khaled Nagar, both senior officials for the Palestinian militant group in the occupied West Bank. It added that it was “aware of reports indicating that as a result of the strike and fire that was ignited, several civilians in the area were harmed. The incident is under review.”
The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency, Unrwa, has said that reports of attacks on families seeking shelter in Rafah in southern Gaza were “horrifying”. “There are reports of mass casualties including children and women among those killed. Gaza is hell on earth. Images from last night are yet another testament to that,” Unrwa wrote on X.
Relations between the EU and Israel took a nosedive on the eve of the diplomatic recognition of a Palestinian state by EU members Ireland and Spain. Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, told Spain that its consulate in Jerusalem will not be allowed to help Palestinians. EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell threw his full weight to support the international criminal court, whose prosecutor is seeking an arrest warrant against prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others, including the leader of Hamas. There is a meeting between EU foreign ministers and Middle East Arab leaders today in Brussels in which Israel’s war in Gaza is expected to dominate.
The international criminal court should investigate as war crimes three Israeli airstrikes that killed 44 Palestinian civilians, including 32 children, in the Gaza Strip last month, Amnesty International said. The strikes – one on al-Maghazi on 16 April, and two on the southern city of Rafah on 19 and 20 April 2024 – also injured at least 20 civilians, the organisation said.
Israel is investigating the deaths of Palestinians captured during the war in Gaza, as well as a military-run detention camp where a human rights group has alleged abuse of inmates, the armed forces’ chief prosecutor said.
The UK’s Foreign Office has issued the following statement in reaction to the Israeli airstrikes on Rafah.
An FCDO spokesperson said:
The UK is clear that we do not support a major military operation in Rafah without a plan to protect the hundreds of thousands of civilians who remain there.
The fastest way to end the conflict is to secure a deal which gets the hostages out and allows for a pause in the fighting in Gaza. We must then work with our international partners to turn that pause into a long term sustainable ceasefire.
Ministers are under pressure from MPs and peers to stop arming Israel and the government has been criticised for pausing UK funding to Unrwa after Israel’s so-far unsubstantiated allegations that 12 staff were involved in the Hamas attacks in southern Israel on 7 October.
Gaza officials say 40 Palestinian people killed by overnight Israeli airstrikes on Rafah
Gaza’s civil defence agency said that the death toll had risen to 40 from overnight Israeli strikes that set ablaze tents of displaced Palestinian people in the southern city of Rafah (reports had previously put the death toll at 35).
The agency said on Monday that many bodies were “charred” after the strikes triggered a fire that ripped through a displacement centre in northwest Rafah.
“The massacre committed by the Israeli occupation army in the refugee tents northwest of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip has left 40 martyrs and 65 wounded,” agency official Mohammad al-Mughayyir was quoted as saying by AFP.
“We saw charred bodies and dismembered limbs … We also saw cases of amputations, wounded children, women and the elderly.”
“We retrieved a large number of child martyrs from the Israeli bombardment, including a child without a head and children whose bodies have turned into fragments,” a Palestinian paramedic told Anadolu news agency.
The Israeli attack sparked strong protests from Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait and from Qatar which warned it could “hinder” budding steps to revive stalled truce and hostage release talks (see earlier post at 10.12).
Israel’s army had said overnight that its aircraft had “struck a Hamas compound in Rafah”, killing Yassin Rabia and Khaled Nagar, both senior officials for the Palestinian militant group in the occupied West Bank.
It added that it was “aware of reports indicating that as a result of the strike and fire that was ignited, several civilians in the area were harmed. The incident is under review.”
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Saudi Arabia has condemned Israel’s attack on Rafah, “the latest of which is targeting the tents of displaced Palestinians near the warehouses of Unrwa northwest of Rafah”, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.
Lisa O’Carroll, the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent, has a little more detail about what EU members will be discussing at their meeting with Arab leaders today in Brussels:
Ireland’s deputy prime minister Micheál Martin said they will be discussing reforms of the Palestinian Authority as part of a potential political plan.
“I’m now going into the EU foreign affairs council, where the Arab contact group will present their thinking in more detail. My view is that the EU needs to get fully behind a cross-regional plan,” he said.
“The EU needs urgently to support the Palestinian Authority’s own reform plan, which I discussed with Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Mustafa last night.
“I believe this provides a pathway for effective governance by the PA, throughout Palestinian territory.”
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Israeli military investigates deaths of Gaza war detainees
Israel is investigating the deaths of Palestinians captured during the war in Gaza, as well as a military-run detention camp where a human rights group has alleged abuse of inmates, the armed forces’ chief prosecutor said.
Citing accounts by former inmates and a doctor from the Sde Teiman base, the Physicians for Human Rights group said last month that detainees have suffered severe violence causing fractures, internal bleeding and even death.
Palestinians have also accused Israeli soldiers of illegal killings during the almost eight-month-old conflict in Gaza.
“To date, 70 military police investigations have been opened into incidents that have raised suspicion of criminal offences,” Major-General Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi, the military advocate-general, told a conference hosted by the Israel Bar Association.
“These investigations also address allegations raised about the incarceration conditions at Sde Teiman detention centre and the deaths of detainees in IDF custody. We are treating these allegations very seriously and are taking action to probe them.”
Lili Bayer is the Guardian’s Europe live blogger
The Belgian prime minister, Alexander De Croo, said in a social media post that “yesterday, a so-called ‘safe zone’ outside Rafah was bombed by Israel, killing tens of women and children”.
“We urgently need partners ready to sit around the table to discuss peace,” he added.
Yesterday, a so-called ‘safe zone’ outside Rafah was bombed by Israel, killing tens of women and children.
— Alexander De Croo 🇧🇪🇪🇺 (@alexanderdecroo) May 27, 2024
We urgently need partners ready to sit around the table to discuss peace.
Thank you Prime Minister Mustafa Mohamed for explaining your plans to me and @hadjalahbib today. pic.twitter.com/nxqpwp4Gwe
Lisa O’Carroll is the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent
There is likely to be division, as there has been since the outbreak of war in the Middle East, but some countries including Spain and Luxembourg want will seek joint support from EU foreign ministers today for the international court of justice order calling for Israel to halt the violence.
If not, then the EU just looks like a “dog which barks a lot but doesn’t bite,” said Luxembourg foreign minister Xavier Bettel on his way into the summit of foreign ministers in Brussels.
If the EU does nothing after the ICJ order on Rafah, it will be like a “dog which barks a lot but doesn’t bite,” says Luxembourg’s FM and former PM Xavier Bettel in Brussels. He says his proposal would be to give Israel an “ultimatum” but acknowledges that unanimity is needed. pic.twitter.com/Zzb6W1jyck
— Rosie Birchard (@RosieBirchard) May 27, 2024
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Qatar says Israeli airstrike on Rafah could hinder mediation efforts
Qatar’s foreign ministry has said the Israeli airstrike on Rafah, which reportedly killed at least 35 Palestinian people, could hinder mediation efforts to reach a ceasefire in the conflict and a hostage release deal.
Several attempts at brokering a new truce, after a week-long cessation of hostilities in November, have foundered. The last round of talks, mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar, quickly drew to a stalemate after Israel launched its attack on Rafah.
US intelligence officials met Israeli and Qatari delegations in Paris on Friday in an attempt to get negotiations back on track, but Hamas downplayed reports of tentative progress, telling Reuters on Sunday that the group had not received anything from the mediators on new dates for the resumption of talks, as Israeli media had reported.
Israel’s top military prosecutor described as “very grave” an airstrike on Rafah which, according to Palestinian medics, killed at least 35 people.
Major-General Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi told a conference hosted by the Israel Bar Association:
The details of the incident are still under an investigation, which we are committed to conducting to the fullest extent.
The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) regrets any harm to non-combatants during the war.
Attacks on Rafah are 'horrifying' and Gaza is 'hell on earth', Unrwa says
The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency, Unrwa, has said that reports of attacks on families seeking shelter in Rafah in southern Gaza were “horrifying”.
“Information coming out of Rafah about further attacks on families seeking shelter is horrifying,” Unrwa wrote on X.
“There are reports of mass casualties including children and women among those killed. Gaza is hell on earth. Images from last night are yet another testament to that.”
Palestinian health and civil emergency service officials said on Sunday Israeli airstrikes killed at least 35 Palestinian people and injured dozens of others in an area in Rafah designated for those who have been displaced.
It came only days after the international court of justice ordered Israel to immediately halt its assault on Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of civilians are still sheltering.
Information coming out of #Rafah about further attacks on families seeking shelter is horrifying.
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) May 27, 2024
There are reports of mass causalities including children and women among those killed.
Gaza is hell on earth. Images from last night are yet another testament to that.
Here are some of the latest images coming out from Rafah, where, according to medics, at least 35 people have been killed by an Israeli airstrike that hit tents housing displaced Palestinian civilians:
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Lisa O’Carroll is the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent
Germany’s foreign minister has said Germany supports the revival of a former EU security border security mission for border protection in Rafah.
Just hours after Hamas fired missiles at Tel Aviv provoking an attack that the EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said had claimed 30 lives in a refugee camp in Gaza, Annalena Baerbock called for an immediate ceasefire.
She said:
We are all experiencing how terrible the situation is. This suffering cannot go on for another day. This has once again prompted the international court of justice to make urgent decisions, to initiate provisional measures to achieve a humanitarian ceasefire. For this humanitarian ceasefire is what we as Europeans, the German federal government [are calling for].
We will do everything we can to achieve this, however difficult the situation is at the moment. That also means thinking again about how humanitarian aid and the worsening situation in Gaza can come in. We now have the situation where Rafah is closed again.
Germany supports the idea that we should reactivate the former EU border security mission, for border protection in Rafah.
Lisa O’Carroll is the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent
Ireland, Norway and Spain will formally recognise Palestine tomorrow, the Irish deputy prime minister Micheál Martin said.
At a joint press conference in Brussels he said all three were “focused on how recognition can contribute to concrete and irreversible steps to vindicate the right to Palestinian self-determination, and to implement a two-state solution”.
They were speaking ahead of a meeting between EU foreign ministers and Middle East Arab leaders.
“We had an excellent meeting last night, with over 40 European, Arab and other partners, discussing exactly this point,” Martin added.
“We focused on building cross-regional cooperation, including on the principles underlying the Arab Peace Vision. We agreed on the need for an early end to the brutal war in Gaza, and clear steps towards the establishment of a Palestinian state,” he said.
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Israeli airstrikes that killed 44 Palestinian civilians evidence of war crime - Amnesty International
The international criminal court should investigate as war crimes three Israeli airstrikes that killed 44 Palestinian civilians, including 32 children, in the Gaza Strip last month, Amnesty International has said.
The strikes – one on al-Maghazi on 16 April, and two on the southern city of Rafah on 19 and 20 April 2024 – also injured at least 20 civilians, the organisation said.
“These devastating strikes have decimated families and cruelly cut short the lives of 32 children,” Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s senior director for research, advocacy, policy and campaigns, said.
“Our findings offer crucial evidence of unlawful attacks by the Israeli military as the prosecutor of the international criminal court applies for arrest warrants for senior Israeli and Hamas officials, including Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As the Israeli military continues to escalate its ground incursion in Rafah, these cases also illustrate the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire.
“Despite growing calls to end arms transfers to Israel, a UN security council resolution ordering a ceasefire, and world leaders warning against the Israeli ground incursion into Rafah, the Israeli military has continued to escalate its operations, including these unrelenting attacks on civilians.
“The cases documented here illustrate a clear pattern of attacks over the past seven months in which the Israeli military has flouted international law, killing Palestinian civilians with total impunity and displaying a callous disregard for human lives.”
Since October, Amnesty International has conducted in-depth investigations into 16 Israeli airstrikes that it says killed 370 civilians, including 159 children, and says it has found evidence of war crimes committed by Israeli forces, including direct attacks on civilians and collective punishment of the civilian population. Israel has denied committing war crimes.
🔴 [Nouveau] #Gaza : @amnesty international a enquêté sur 3 frappes israéliennes en avril à Rafah et Al Maghazi : 44 civils tués dont 32 enfants, et demande à la CPI de s'en saisir.
— amnestypresse (@amnestypresse) May 27, 2024
❌Il n'y avait "aucune preuve de présence de cibles militaires"https://t.co/qicnl04Rxo pic.twitter.com/FxBuBmj1M1
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Israel orders Spain to stop consular services for Palestinians from 1 June
Israel’s foreign ministry said it had told the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem to stop offering consular services to Palestinians from 1 June over Madrid’s recognition of a Palestinian state.
The ministry said that Spain’s consulate in Jerusalem is “authorised to provide consular services to residents of the consular district of Jerusalem only, and is not authorised to provide services or perform consular activity vis-a-vis residents of the Palestinian Authority”.
Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, said in a separate statement that “today, I implemented preliminary punitive measures against the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem following the Spanish government’s recognition of a Palestinian state”.
“We will not put up with harming Israel’s sovereignty and security.”
Last week, Ireland, Spain and Norway announced they would formally recognise a Palestinian state on 28 May, prompting Israel to launch a swift diplomatic counteroffensive to try to deter others from recognising Palestine.
The EU members Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and Malta had indicated in recent weeks that they planned to make a recognition announcement. Since 1988, 139 of 193 UN member states have recognised Palestinian statehood.
Lisa O’Carroll is the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent
EU foreign ministers will meet leaders from the Middle East in Brussels today to discuss how to “revitalise the political process”, the bloc’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, has said.
He called on global leaders to “respect” the decision of the international criminal court last week which filed applications for warrants for the arrest of Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar and Benjamin Netanyahu, a move that enraged the Israeli prime minister.
“The prosecutor of the court has been strongly intimidated and accused of antisemitism, as always, that everyone does something that the Netanyahu government doesn’t like,” Borrell said.
“I think that the accusation of antisemitism against the prosecutor of the international criminal court is completely not acceptable.”
Foreign ministers will meet the secretary general of the League of Arab States and leaders of Egypt, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
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ActionAid has issued a statement in reaction to what it described as an “atrocious” attack in west Rafah.
The charity said nobody’s safety is guaranteed in Gaza and has reiterated its calls for an immediate ceasefire.
The ActionAid statement reads:
We are outraged and heartbroken by the recent attacks in West Rafah, where Israeli fighter jets launched eight missiles at makeshift shelters housing internally displaced persons (IDPs) next to Unrwa warehouses stocking vital aid.
These shelters were supposed to be safe havens for innocent civilians, yet they became targets of brutal violence. Children, women, and men are being burned alive under their tents and shelters.
The Civil Defence in Gaza estimates that around 100,000 IDPs are currently in the targeted areas. So far, 50 burned bodies have been recovered as people try to work through the raging fire. We anticipate the number of casualties to rise.
The images coming from our partners of burned bodies are a scar on the face of humanity and the global community, which so far has failed to protect the people of Gaza. One of our own ActionAid colleagues narrowly escaped this atrocity, having left the shelter just a day before the attack. But nobody’s safety is guaranteed in Gaza.
EU foreign policy chief criticises continued military action in Rafah
The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has said that Israel is pushing ahead with military action in southern Gaza despite a ruling by the International Court of Justice urging the country to immediately halt its push.
Borrell said that the world court ruling must be implemented, ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers’, adding he would also work towards reaching a political decision on the launch of a dedicated EU border assistance mission for the Rafah border crossing.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said its ambulance crews transported “a large number” of people killed and injured in the Rafah strikes.
The group added that the location of the strike had been designated by Israel as a humanitarian area, adding “citizens were coerced into evacuating to it.”
A spokesperson said the death toll was likely to rise as search and rescue efforts continued in Rafah’s Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood about 2km (1.2 miles) north-west of the city centre.
“Currently, numerous individuals remain trapped under the flames and in the tents destroyed by the bombardment.”
Aid groups react to strike of Rafah
Aid groups say they are “horrified” by an Israeli strike on tents housing displaced people in the southern city of Rafah that has left at least 35 people dead.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said dozens of dead and injured people were brought to a trauma stabilisation supported by the group.
The aid group said in a post on X:
We are horrified by this deadly event which shows once again that nowhere is safe.
The Hamas-run government media office in Gaza earlier said the attack hit a centre run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees near Rafah, saying it was a “horrific massacre”.
Footage from the scene showed widespread destruction at the camp with a large fire overtaking the area. The Israeli military said its air force struck a Hamas compound and that the strike was carried out with “precise ammunition and on the basis of precise intelligence.”
Israel’s army said it has killed Yassin Rabia and Khaled Nagar, both senior officials for the Palestinian militant group in the occupied West Bank, reports Agence France-Presse.
It added that it was:
… aware of reports indicating that as a result of the strike and fire that was ignited, several civilians in the area were harmed. The incident is under review.
Israel’s army said Sunday at least eight rockets were fired towards central areas of the country from Rafah, with strikes targeting the commercial hub of Tel Aviv for the first time in months.
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Welcome and opening summary
It’s 9:16am in Gaza and Tel Aviv. Welcome to our latest live coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza and the wider Middle East crisis. I’m Reged Ahmad and I’ll be with you for the next while.
Aid groups say they are “horrified” by an Israeli strike on tents housing displaced people in the southern city of Rafah that has left at least 35 people dead.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said dozens of dead and injured people were brought to a trauma stabilisation supported by the group.
The aid group said in a statement:
We are horrified by this deadly event which shows once again that nowhere is safe.
Footage from the scene showed a large fire in the area.
Israel’s army said its aircraft “struck a Hamas compound in Rafah“, killing Yassin Rabia and Khaled Nagar, both senior officials for the Palestinian militant group in the occupied West Bank, reports Agence France-Presse.
It added that it was:
… aware of reports indicating that as a result of the strike and fire that was ignited, several civilians in the area were harmed. The incident is under review.
Israel’s army said on Sunday at least eight rockets were fired towards central areas of the country from Rafah, with strikes targeting the commercial hub of Tel Aviv for the first time in months.
More on that in a moment but first, here’s a summary of the latest developments:
Seventy organisations have called on all relevant authorities and international institutions to officially declare a famine in the Gaza Strip, where there is a rapid spread of famine, according to the Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. It said that food insecurity is increasing across the enclave because of Israel’s use of starvation as a “weapon of war” against the Palestinian people – something the organisations say is part of a genocide. The organisation said food security levels have significantly declined due to the Israeli army’s offensive in Rafah which began in early May.
Hamas armed wing al-Qassam Brigades said it launched a “big missile” attack on Tel Aviv on Sunday as the Israeli military sounded sirens in the central city warning of possible incoming rockets. In a statement on its Telegram channel, al-Qassam Brigades said the rockets were launched in response to what it called “Zionist massacres against civilians”. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage in what appeared to be the first long-range rocket attack from Gaza since January.
At least 35,984 Palestinian people have been killed and 80,643 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, Gaza’s health ministry said in a statement.
Amnesty International on Monday urged the international criminal court to investigate as war crimes three recent Israeli strikes that killed 44 Palestinian civilians, including 32 children. Amnesty said three Israeli strikes – one on the al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza on 16 April, and two on Rafah in southern Gaza on 19 and 20 April – are “further evidence of a broader pattern of war crimes” committed by the Israeli military in Gaza, reports AFP.
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