US after Israeli airstrikes kill 45 people in Rafah

Washington:

The United States said on Monday that Israel must do everything possible to prevent civilian casualties after a deadly attack on a displaced persons camp in Rafah that killed 45 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Israel is facing a wave of international condemnation over the strike, both across the region and from the European Union, France and the United Nations.

“As we have been clear, Israel must take every precaution to protect civilians,” a spokesperson for the US National Security Council said in a statement.

“We are actively engaging the IDF and partners on the ground to assess what happened,” the spokesperson added.

Gaza’s civil protection agency said the attack ignited a fire that tore through a displacement center in northwest Rafah, near a facility of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.

“The devastating images following an IDF attack in Rafah last night, which killed dozens of innocent Palestinians, are heartbreaking,” the NSC spokesperson said.

The Israeli military said it had launched an investigation into the attack, which it said was carried out based on “precise intelligence information” about two Hamas militants it said were killed.

It launched the attack on Rafah hours after Hamas unleashed a barrage of rockets towards Tel Aviv, most of which were intercepted.

The NSC spokesman said that “Israel has the right to go after Hamas, and we understand that this attack killed two key Hamas terrorists responsible for attacks on Israeli civilians,” before appealing for more caution.

The Gaza war broke out after the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7 resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,050 people, mostly civilians, according to Israel’s Health Ministry.

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