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No, Media, Israel Didn’t Strike a Refugee Camp in Rafah
Fire rages following an Israeli strike amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video, May 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Reuters TV
An independent military investigation is underway to ascertain exactly what happened following an Israeli airstrike on two senior Hamas commanders in Rafah on Sunday night, which also led to a fire that killed a number of Gazan civilians.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the deaths as “tragic,” and said Israel had been working to protect civilians by evacuating one million Palestinians from Rafah. “Despite our efforts not to hurt them, there was a tragic mishap. We are investigating the incident. For us it’s a tragedy, for Hamas, it’s a strategy,” he said.
A US official reportedly said that the likely cause of the blaze was shrapnel from the strike hitting and igniting a fuel tank, with the fire then spreading to a nearby encampment.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military stated that it suspects munitions or another explosive substance, of which it was unaware, caused the secondary blast and fire.
The IDF also confirmed that the strike occurred outside a designated humanitarian zone.
“Strike on Rafah Refugee Camp”
Despite the evidence, several leading news outlets have suggested that Israel directly struck or targeted the encampment.
The Guardian accused Israel of carrying out a “deadly” airstrike on “on tents housing displaced Palestinians,” while The Los Angeles Times also claimed that the IDF had killed dozens in a “strike on a tent camp…”
As tragic as this incident was, Israel did not carry out an airstrike “on refugee tents.”
The IDF targeted senior Hamas terrorists outside of the designated humanitarian zone. Despite @guardian‘s headline, Israel does not deliberately target civilians.https://t.co/Gs1xSHcrbo pic.twitter.com/GPmjE9nHXe
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) May 28, 2024
Meanwhile, the Associated Press also cited “health officials” in Gaza, who claimed at least 45 people had been killed when a strike “hit a tent camp” and caused a large fire.
The BBC quoted the incendiary comments made by the Irish deputy prime minister, Micheál Martin, saying he had “condemned an Israeli air strike on a camp for displaced Palestinians, describing it as ‘barbaric’.”
Like the AP, ABC News also referenced unverified Gaza health ministry figures without stating it is operated by Hamas.
Just wow. @ABC literally republishes the statement of a terrorist org. This isn’t verified info from an independent health ministry, it’s the unverified claims & propaganda of Hamas.
At least have the honesty to tell your readers where it came from.https://t.co/e5A0d4l2sP pic.twitter.com/KDDeBLoRPN
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) May 28, 2024
The New York Times implied malice on Israel’s part in a piece headlined, “Charred Bodies and Screams” which describes “scenes of horror after an airstrike at a camp.”
Every single civilian death is horrific. It still doesn’t mean Israel targets civilians.
Israel struck & killed two Hamas leaders. Right now, investigations are underway to understand what exactly led to the tragic civilian casualties.
Shame on you @nytimes for implying malice. pic.twitter.com/08BQA0pJIx
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) May 28, 2024
It was a deliberate choice by these media outlets to frame the tragic Rafah incident as an intentional Israeli attack on Palestinian civilians sheltering in a refugee encampment.
This is part of a recurring pattern, where these outlets prematurely — and without evidence — suggest that Israel is guilty of grave war crimes.
The media have a duty to get the facts right, and to report fairly and truthfully. In the context of war, where every piece of misreporting can have potentially devastating consequences, this duty becomes even more critical. Lives depend on it.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post No, Media, Israel Didn’t Strike a Refugee Camp in Rafah first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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UN Security Council Meets on Iran as Russia, China Push for a Ceasefire
Members of the Security Council cast a vote during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the 3rd anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at UN headquarters in New York, US, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/David Dee Delgado
The U.N. Security Council met on Sunday to discuss US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites as Russia, China and Pakistan proposed the 15-member body adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Middle East.
It was not immediately clear when it could be put to a vote. The three countries circulated the draft text, said diplomats, and asked members to share their comments by Monday evening. A resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, France, Britain, Russia or China to pass.
The US is likely to oppose the draft resolution, seen by Reuters, which also condemns attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites and facilities. The text does not name the United States or Israel.
“The bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States marks a perilous turn in a region that is already reeling,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Sunday. “We now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation.”
“We must act – immediately and decisively – to halt the fighting and return to serious, sustained negotiations on the Iran nuclear program,” Guterres said.
The world awaited Iran’s response on Sunday after President Donald Trump said the US had “obliterated” Tehran’s key nuclear sites, joining Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution.
U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that while craters were visible at Iran’s enrichment site buried into a mountain at Fordow, “no one – including the IAEA – is in a position to assess the underground damage.”
Grossi said entrances to tunnels used for the storage of enriched material appear to have been hit at Iran’s sprawling Isfahan nuclear complex, while the fuel enrichment plant at Natanz has been struck again.
“Iran has informed the IAEA there has been no increase in off-site radiation levels at all three sites,” said Grossi, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran requested the U.N. Security Council meeting, calling on the 15-member body “to address this blatant and unlawful act of aggression, to condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
Israel‘s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement on Sunday that the U.S. and Israel “do not deserve any condemnation, but rather an expression of appreciation and gratitude for making the world a safer place.”
Danon told reporters before the council meeting that it was still early when it came to assessing the impact of the U.S. strikes. When asked if Israel was pursuing regime change in Iran, Danon said: “That’s for the Iranian people to decide, not for us.”
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Israel Rejects Critical EU Report Ahead of Ministers’ Meeting
FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
Israel has rejected a European Union report saying it may be breaching human rights obligations in Gaza and the West Bank as a “moral and methodological failure,” according to a document seen by Reuters on Sunday.
The note, sent to EU officials ahead of a foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, said the report by the bloc’s diplomatic service failed to consider Israel’s challenges and was based on inaccurate information.
“The Foreign Ministry of the State of Israel rejects the document … and finds it to be a complete moral and methodological failure,” the note said, adding that it should be dismissed entirely.
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Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’
FILE PHOTO: Pope Leo XIV holds a Jubilee audience on the occasion of the Jubilee of Sport, at St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican June 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi/File Photo
Pope Leo on Sunday said the international community must strive to avoid war that risks opening an “irreparable abyss,” and that diplomacy should take the place of conflict.
US forces struck Iran’s three main nuclear sites overnight, joining an Israeli assault in a major new escalation of conflict in the Middle East as Tehran vowed to defend itself.
“Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility: to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” Pope Leo said during his weekly prayer with pilgrims.
“No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, the stolen future. Let diplomacy silence the weapons, let nations chart their future with peace efforts, not with violence and bloody conflicts,” he added.
“In this dramatic scenario, which includes Israel and Palestine, the daily suffering of the population, especially in Gaza and other territories, risks being forgotten, where the need for adequate humanitarian support is becoming increasingly urgent,” Pope Leo said.
The post Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.