Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told parliament on Monday that the Israeli raid on Rafah the day before was a “tragic incident.”
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Netanyahu said: “In Rafah, we evacuated a million uninvolved residents, and despite all efforts, a tragic accident occurred yesterday.”
He added: “We are investigating what happened and will draw conclusions.”
On Sunday, an Israeli air strike caused a fire in a camp for displaced people in the southern Gaza Strip, killing at least 45 people, according to authorities in the Strip.
About 250 people were also injured, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
Netanyahu criticized the pressures coming “from within and without,” as he put it, against his government since the start of the war against the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Israel is facing a wave of international condemnation on Monday over the raid on Rafah, with the United Nations calling for an investigation.
- Listen to Luc Lavoie's analysis via Yasmine Abdel Fadil's microphone QUB :
“They pressured us: Do not enter Gaza, so we entered! “Do not enter Al-Shifa” (named after the largest hospital in the Palestinian territories, editor’s note), and we entered! “Do not enter Rafah!” And we entered there!” he said in front of the families of the hostages held in Gaza Strip, who were stationed in the area designated for the public and booed him.
“I do not give up and I will not give up! I am resisting national and international pressure,” he said, echoing in particular criticism of the Israeli opposition, some of whose members are calling for his resignation.
Photo by Agence France-Presse
He stressed that “nothing replaces absolute victory,” as he did several months ago.
The war broke out as a result of an attack launched by Hamas against Israel on October 7, which led to the killing of more than 1,170 people, most of them civilians, according to a census conducted by Agence France-Presse based on official Israeli figures.
Of the 252 people taken hostage on October 7, 121 are still being held in Gaza, at least 37 of whom have died, according to the military.
Israel vowed to destroy Hamas and launched a devastating attack on the Gaza Strip in response, killing more than 36,000 people, most of them civilians, according to data from the Hamas Health Ministry in Gaza.
