Strike kills 22 in tent camp near ICRC office in Gaza, aid group says
The strike in Mawasi, north of Rafah, was “dangerously close to humanitarian structures” and damaged the ICRC’s office, the humanitarian group said.
Victoria BissetJune 22, 2024 at 9:12 a.m. EDT
At least 22 people were killed and 45 injured after “heavy-calibre projectiles landed within metres” of the International Committee of the Red Cross’s office in the Gaza Strip, the humanitarian group said.
The strike on Friday afternoon in Mawasi, north of Rafah, “damaged the structure of the ICRC office, which is surrounded by hundreds of displaced civilians living in tents, including many of our Palestinian colleagues,” the organization wrote in a statement Friday. “Firing so dangerously close to humanitarian structures puts the lives of civilians and Red Cross staff at risk.”
It said the “incident caused a mass casualty influx at the nearby Red Cross Field Hospital,” which received 22 bodies and 45 injured people, with “reports of additional casualties.”
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Gaza’s Health Ministry said 25 people were killed and 50 wounded in the attack, and accused “the Israeli occupation targeting the tents of displaced civilians” in Mawasi.
In a statement to The Washington Post on Saturday, the Israeli military said that an initial inquiry suggested there was “no indication that a strike was carried out by the IDF in the Humanitarian Area in Al-Mawasi,” adding that the incident is under review.
Separately on Friday, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres pleaded for “reason and rationality” as he expressed his “profound concerns” over the risk of an all-out war between Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Israel.
Addressing reporters Friday, Guterres said there had been an escalation of exchanges of fire and in “bellicose rhetoric from both sides, as if an all-out war was imminent.”
“One rash move, one miscalculation, could trigger a catastrophe that goes far beyond the border, and frankly, beyond imagination,” he said. “Let’s be clear: The people of the region and the people of the world cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza.”
Earlier this week, the Israeli military said it had “approved and validated” operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon, as Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz warned on social media that “in an all-out war, Hezbollah will be destroyed and Lebanon will be severely hit.” On the same day, Hezbollah, an Iranian-allied military force and Lebanon’s strongest political party, said it had new weapons and intelligence capabilities that could be used in case of a full-scale war.
The two sides have been exchanging fire since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel — the worst fighting between the two foes since a deadly, month-long war in 2006.
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Around 39,000 Palestinian students are unable to take their final high school exams, which were to begin on Saturday, due to the war in Gaza, Palestinian state news agency WAFA reported. According to humanitarian groups, some 625,000 students have been out of school since the war began in October.
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Cuba announced that it intends to join South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice, according to a statement from its Foreign Ministry released Friday. Earlier this month, Spain became the first European country to ask to join the case; other countries including Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua, Libya have requested to join, according to the Associated Press.
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At least 37,551 people have been killed and 85,911 injured in Gaza since the war started,according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, including more than 300 soldiers, and it says 312 soldiers have been killed since the launch of its military operations in Gaza
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