- Israeli forces have bombed a tent camp housing displaced people in a designated safe zone in Rafah, killing some 40 Palestinians, according to the Wafa news agency. Many of the victims were women and children.
- The attack on the camp in Tal as-Sultan came after Israeli forces bombed shelters housing displaced Palestinians in other areas including Jabalia, Nuseirat and Gaza City, killing at least 160 others, according to Palestinian officials.
- The Israeli military confirmed the attack on Rafah, saying it targeted Hamas fighters using “precision weaponry”. It acknowledged that civilians were wounded when a fire broke out and said the incident is under investigation.
- At least 35,984 Palestinians have been killed and up to 80,643 people have been wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s attack on that date stands at 1,139, with dozens still held captive.
- Israel restricts Spanish embassy’s services in occupied West BankIsrael’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz says in a post on X that he has instructed the Foreign Ministry to send a diplomatic note to the Spanish embassy in Israel.The note states that the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem is prohibited “from conducting consular activities or providing consular services to residents of the Palestinian Authority”.
- More from the Irish FMIreland’s foreign minister Micheal Martin says despite the international community – including the EU – having discussed support for a two-state solution for decades, “we are no nearer to actually getting to that desired end state”.Speaking at a media conference in Brussels with his Spanish and Norwegian counterparts, he said some have framed their decision to recognise the state of Palestine as a “reward for terror”, adding, “nothing could be further from the truth”.“We have recognised both the State of Israel and the State of Palestine precisely because we want to see a future of normalised relations between the two peoples” he continued.He said his country seeks a solution in which occupation, terrorism, dispossession and displacement, “have no role” and are “replaced by a political framework in which the parties can pursue their political aims”.“There can be no military solution to this conflict. And I refute absolutely any group using violence or terrorism to try and eliminate the State of Israel or to eliminate the State of Palestine as an idea or as a reality,” he said.
- Rafah bombing is the ‘crime of crimes’: Former UNRWA spokespersonChris Gunness tells Al Jazeera that it is a “tragedy” that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians think that they can take refuge “under the light blue UN flag” in Rafah.Following last night’s bombardment of a tent camp in Rafah, he said the three judges at the pre-trial chamber at the International Criminal Court (ICC) “are as horrified as the rest of the world about these attacks”.On May 20, after months of gathering evidence, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan announced that he was seeking arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as for Hamas leaders.“Let us pray that we’re now going to move forward with arrest warrants against Gallant and Netanyahu; they need now to become wanted war criminals,” Gunness said.“We’re now seeing blatant disregard for the Genocide Convention. There is no exception to the Genocide Convention. There are no excuses. This is the crime of crimes,” he said.
- Bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli attack on an area designated for displaced people in Rafah [Mohammed Salem/Reuters]
- ‘Palestinian children should wake up feeling excited to go to school and play with their friends’: CorbynJeremy Corbyn, the former leader of the UK Labour Party and a human rights advocate, has labelled Israel’s bombing of a tent camp in Rafah a “monstrous failure of humanity” in a post on X.
- We have to raise our voice: Spanish FMForeign Minister Jose Manuel Albares, addressing a news conference in Spain with his Irish and Norwegian counterparts, says:“Yesterday’s bombing [on Rafah] is one more day with innocent Palestinian civilians being killed.“This stresses what … the three of our counties have been calling for for a long time – an immediate ceasefire.“But the gravity is even larger because it comes after a decision taken by the International Court of Justice that, once again, I want to recall, that are binding and compulsory for all parties.“I think that this time, we have to raise our voice not only for an immediate ceasefire but also to back international law and the United Nations.”
- Spain to ask EU partners to back ICJ over IsraelSpanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Monday that he will ask the other 26 European Union member states to issue official backing to the International Court of Justice and take steps to ensure Israel respects its decisions.“I am going to ask the other 26 partners to declare the backing of the International Court of Justice and its decision, and also, if Israel continues to pursue against that opinion of the court, we would try to take the right measures to enforce that decision,” he told reporters in Brussels during a joint news conference with his Irish and Norwegian counterparts.
- ActionAid condemns ‘inhumane, barbaric’ attack on Rafah campThe global humanitarian group said it was “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”.It added, “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.”
- Mourners react next to the bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced people in Rafah [Mohammed Salem/Reuters]
- Ireland’s FM condemns Rafah camp attackIreland’s foreign minister describes last night’s attack on a tent camp in Rafah as “barbaric”.“Gaza is a very small enclave, densely populated,” he says, adding, “One cannot bomb an area like that without shocking consequences in terms of innocent children and civilians.“We would urge Israel to stop, to stop now, in terms of the military operation in Rafah.”
Israel’s war on Gaza live news: ‘People burned alive’ in attack on Rafah
