UN Condemns Israeli Attack On Refugee Area In Rafah

Israeli military land operations in Gaza. (Source: Israel Defense Forces)

JAKARTA - The United Nations strongly condemns Israel's attack on the refugee area in Rafah, although Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced the attack was precision based on intelligence and killed senior Hamas commanders.

Dozens of civilians were killed, mostly women and children, when an Israeli attack hit a refugee area that was previously said to be a safe zone.

The UN Special Reporter for the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian occupied regionung Albanese on Monday said the Israeli shooting of refugee tents in Rafah was a blatant challenge to international law.

"Genosida di Gaza tidak akan berakhir tanpa tekanan dari luar, dan sanksi harus ditentuhkan pada Israel, dengan investasi, perjanjian, perdagangan dan kemitraan dengan Israel harus ditunda," kata Albanese dalam cuitan di X, melansir WAFA 27 Mei.

Gaza officials and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said the target area for the attack was a refugee camp recently established near the warehouse of the United Nations Aid and Work Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in northwester Rafah.

UNRWA said reports of attacks on families seeking refuge in the Rafah on the southern tip of the Gaza Strip were "terrible".

"Information from Rafah about further attacks on families seeking protection is terrible," UNRWA wrote on X.

"There have been reports of mass casualties including children and women among those killed. Gaza is the world's hell. The images from last night are one more piece of evidence of that," he continued.

Separately, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claims its air force attacked the Hamas complex in Rafah with precise and intelligence-based ammunition, killing senior Hamas officials.

Citing The Times of Israel, the attack took place in the Tel Al-Sultan neighborhood in western Rafah. The IDF claims its attack hit the Hamas complex in Rafah, killing Hamas headquarters commander in the West Bank Yassin Rabia, as well as senior member Khaled Najjar.

Rabia, according to the IDF, "managed the entire military ranks at the West Bank headquarters, engaged in fund transfers for terror purposes and directed attacks by Hamas agents" in the West Bank. The IDF also said Rabia himself carried out several deadly attacks, in 2001 and 2002, killing Israeli soldiers.

Meanwhile, Najjar was involved in directing shooting attacks and other terror activities in the West Bank, as well as being involved in disbursing funds to Hamas operations, the military said.

Najjar is also said to have carried out several attacks between 2001 and 2003, according to the IDF, killing civilians and killing and injuring soldiers.

Separately, the IDF said it was aware that the attacks and fires triggered by the attack caused civilian casualties. It said it was conducting an investigation.

"IDF mengetahui laporan yang menunjukkan bahwa akibat serangan dan kebakaran yang terjadi, beberapa warga sipil di daerah tersebut terluka. Incident tersebut sedang diperiksi," kata IDF.

The IDF said the West Bank headquarters was a Hamas unit tasked with launching attacks on Israel from or in the West Bank.