Gaza war: Israeli tanks push into heart of Rafah amid bombardment

Fire that killed 45 was caused by secondary blasts, says Israel military

IIsraeli tanks have reached the heart of Rafah, according to AFP, a sign the military could be nearing its goal of taking full control of the southern Gazan city.  

Residents reported clashes between Israeli and Hamas forces in the center of town on Tuesday, AFP said, suggesting troops have advanced beyond their initial incursions in the outskirts.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long said the country needed to start a ground invasion of Rafah to seek out the thousands of Hamas fighters and some leaders it says are based in the city — as well as some hostages. The plan has drawn international condemnation — including from the US — even after Israel insisted it would first allow civilians to leave.

The United Nations says roughly one million civilians have fled Rafah, having sought shelter there during fighting elsewhere in Gaza. Devastation caused earlier in the near eight-month war means there are limited places for them to go, a predicament made clear on Sunday when an Israeli airstrike killed an estimated 45 Palestinians at a tent camp northwest of the city.  

The Israeli military says an initial investigation into a strike that sparked a deadly weekend fire in a tent camp in the southern Gaza city of Rafah has found the blaze was caused by a secondary explosion.

Rear Adm Daniel Hagari, the chief military spokesman, said Tuesday that the military fired two 17-kg (37-pound) munitions that targeted two senior Hamas militants. He said the munitions would have been too small to ignite a fire on their own and the military is looking into the possibility that weapons were stored in the area.

Palestinian health officials say at least 45 people, around half of them women and children, were killed in Sunday’s strike. The fire also could have ignited fuel, cooking gas canisters or other materials in the densely populated camp housing displaced people.

The strike caused widespread outrage, including from some of Israel’s closest allies. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was the result of a “tragic mishap”.

New strikes in the same western Tel al-Sultan district of Rafah that was hit Sunday killed at least 16 Palestinians, the Palestinian Civil Defence and the Palestinian Red Crescent said Tuesday.