Israel’s war on Gaza updates: New massacre of displaced civilians in Rafah

Thank you for joining us for real-time updates on everything related to Israel’s war on Gaza.

For more on the Biden administration’s Israel policy following the deadly attack on the Rafah tent camp, check out our story here.

An in-depth explainer on the Rafah massacre can be found here.

For more news, analysis and opinion on the conflict, click here.

A deadly exchange of fire at the Rafah border crossing comes amid fragile political relations.

Officially, Egypt and Israel are at peace. But beneath the surface, a diplomatic dispute has been brewing for weeks.

Israel pushed ahead with its assault on Rafah – the area of southern Gaza bordering Egypt – despite Cairo’s many objections.

We will be closing this live page soon. Here is a recap of the latest news:

• Israeli army tanks move into the centre of Rafah in a sign the full-scale invasion of the city is now fully under way.
• Thirteen out of the 21 people killed in the latest Israeli military attack on tent cities in southern Rafah’s so-called “safe area” of al-Mawasi were women and girls, as deadly strikes on civilians continue.
• Fighter jets attacked the al-Faluja area, west of the Jabalia refugee camp, killing and injuring several civilians who had only just returned after Israeli forces withdrew.
• The governments of Spain, Ireland and Norway formally recognised the state of Palestine.
• One million people in Rafah have been forced to flee over the past three weeks, UNRWA says.
• The Pentagon says the military pier off the coast of Gaza is being towed to Israel for repair and it’s unclear when it will be fixed and operational.

The UN Security Council (UNSC) must move beyond discussions and take action to end the war on Gaza, France’s envoy to the United Nations says.

“The Security Council cannot just talk, the Security Council needs to act,” Nicolas de Riviere told reporters in New York ahead of a closed emergency session at the council.

Emphasising the immediate need for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of captives, de Riviere said France denounced the air strikes on a camp for displaced people in Rafah which killed at least 45 people, mostly women and children.

Raymond Johansen, the secretary-general of Norwegian People’s Aid, says as more countries recognise Palestinian statehood, this will put pressure on Israel for a negotiated solution.

Watch his interview with Al Jazeera below:

Thirteen out of 21 people killed by Israel in an air strike on the so-called “safe area” of al-Mawasi were civilian women and girls, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary reported on Tuesday.

This was the second such attack on civilians sheltering in tents, with a horrifying strike on Sunday night setting displaced people’s shelters ablaze not too far from Tuesday’s strike.

The world had watched, aghast, on Monday as displaced Palestinians were forced to dig through the smouldering remains of the camp with their bare hands – looking for bodies, or injured people, or in some cases a few scraps of food they could salvage to keep their families going a bit longer.

As reports further clarify what happened on Tuesday, you can read here the details of Sunday’s attack.

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen says all parties must adhere to the World Court orders.

“Devastated by news from Rafah on Israeli strikes killing dozens of civilians, including small children,” she said in a post on X.

“Finland has consistently urged Israel to refrain from attacking Rafah with high numbers of displaced people. ICJ orders and international humanitarian law must be respected by all parties.”

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) last week ordered Israel to halt its military operation in Rafah, noting the “immense risk” to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians taking shelter there.

Devastated by news from Rafah on Israeli strikes killing dozens of civilians, including small children. Finland has consistently urged Israel to refrain from attacking Rafah, with high numbers of displaced people. ICJ orders and int’l humanitarian law must be respected by all…

— Elina Valtonen (@elinavaltonen) May 28, 2024

The Lebanese armed group says it targeted a group of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of the Raheb area near Lebanon’s southern border.

Moreover, the group said it also launched an attack on Israeli troops at Bayad Blida.

Earlier, we had reported the Israeli military saying it struck a “number of terrorist targets” linked to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah has at least 60,000 soldiers and it increased its stockpile of missiles from 14,000 in 2006 to about 150,000 now.

Washington, DC – In early May, seven months into Israel’s devastating war on Gaza, President Joe Biden drew a rare red line for the top US ally.

Biden told CNN that Washington would not provide bombs and artillery shells for the Israeli army to invade Rafah in southern Gaza.

But the images of charred bodies that emerged from an Israeli attack in Rafah on Sunday raised questions about the credibility of Biden’s “red line”. An estimated 45 people were killed in the attack.

“It is deeply disappointing to see President Biden continue to allow Israel to operate with impunity,” said Ahmad Abuznaid, the director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights. “To issue a red line that you knew you weren’t going to follow through on not only means he will continue to be Genocide Joe, but it also just shows he’s weak politically.”

Read the full story here.

US President Joe Biden is not turning a “blind eye” to the deaths in Israel’s strike on Rafah over the weekend but has no plans to change policy yet.

“This is not something that we’ve turned a blind eye to, nor is it something we’ve ignored or neglected,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters. He had been asked “how many charred corpses” it would take for Biden to change course on support for Israel.

At the same time, Kirby said he had “no policy changes to speak to” following Sunday’s strike in which 45 people were killed as a blaze tore through a camp for displaced people, adding that the incident “just happened”.

Discord from last month’s violent mob attack on pro-Palestinian students and activists encamped at the University of California, Los Angeles, flared again as academic workers staged a protest strike on campus against UCLA’s response to the incident.

Unionised academic researchers, graduate teaching assistants and post-doctoral scholars at UCLA walked off the job over the university’s handling of pro-Palestinian demonstrations, organisers said.

The strike was organised by the United Auto Workers union Local 4811. The expanding work stoppage marks the first union-backed protest in solidarity with the recent wave of student-led demonstrations on dozens of US campuses against Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip.

The White House says it opposes imposing sanctions against International Criminal Court officials over the prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants for Israeli leaders for their role in the Gaza war.

“We don’t believe that sanctions against the ICC is the right approach here,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters, after Republicans in Congress said they would push for measures against the Hague-based war crimes court.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told US senators last week that he would be willing to work with them on sanctioning the court.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his country will continue to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

“Canada in no way supports the military operations by Israel in Rafah,” he told reporters.

“Canada in no way supports the military operations by Israel in Rafah. Indeed, we have been calling for a ceasefire, including at the UN, since December and we will continue to.” pic.twitter.com/IcCeRr0SUg

— Kamal Khera (@KamalKheraLib) May 28, 2024

International medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) shared “heartbreaking” audio from a doctor in Tal as-Sultan – the site of Sunday’s massacre.

“We are scared for ourselves, for our children,” she said, adding there is “no safe space here after what happened with the burning of the tents”.

On Sunday, Israeli forces bombed a tent camp housing displaced Palestinians in the designated safe zone, killing at least 45 people.

Today we received a heartbreaking voice note from Dr. Safa Jaber in Tal Al-Sultan in Rafah.

"We are scared for ourselves, for our children.

We are heading to the so-called 'safe zone' … but there is no safe space here after what happened with the burning of tents." pic.twitter.com/lyfnPTcICB

— Doctors w/o Borders (@MSF_USA) May 28, 2024

Several legislators from Italy’s opposition Five Star Movement brandished Palestinian flags in parliament during a discussion on the Israeli war on Gaza.

They raised five flags and a peace flag in the lower Chamber of Deputies as their colleague Riccardo Ricciardi was speaking, calling on Italy to recognise the state of Palestine.

“We must never be afraid to recognise a community’s chance to rally around a flag,” Ricciardi said.

He condemned the “double standards” of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right government for expressing support for a two-state solution for the Palestinians and Israelis, but abstaining on a UN resolution earlier this month on full Palestinian membership.

The Chamber’s presiding officer reminded members of parliament that partisan symbols are not allowed inside, and the Five Star lawmakers handed over the flags to parliamentary officials after a few seconds.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid says his country needs “a deal now before it’s too late” following the release of a video of Israeli captive Alex Trufanov by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad armed group in Gaza.

“The sign of life that came tonight from Alex reminds us that there is no time,” he posted on X, together with a photo of 28-year-old Trufanov.

אות החיים שהגיע הערב מאלכס מזכיר לנו שאין זמן. חייבים עסקה עכשיו לפני שיהיה מאוחר. pic.twitter.com/Hs8uHKd9dQ

— יאיר לפיד – Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) May 28, 2024

Translation: The sign of life that came tonight from Alex reminds us that there is no time. We need a deal now before it’s too late.

Houthi-affiliated media Al Masirah says aircraft launched two raids on the al-Jabanah area, west of Hodeidah.

The United States and United Kingdom have targeted Houthi positions in Yemen since the rebels started attacking vessels in the Red Sea in opposition to Israel’s war on Gaza.

Earlier, a missile attack damaged a ship in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen. The attack happened off the port city of Hodeidah, near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre.

The vessel “sustained damage” in the assault and later reported an “impact in the water in close proximity to the vessel,” the UKMTO said. “The crew are reported safe and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of call.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has condemned the US government for continuing to stand by Israel after the attack on displaced Palestinians in Rafah killed at least 45 people.

“Day after day, massacre after massacre, and the Biden administration continues to ship the bombs to the far-right, openly genocidal Israeli government that it uses to slaughter Palestinian children, women, medical personnel, journalists, international aid workers, and the sick and elderly, and continues to shield Israel from international accountability,” said Nihad Awad, CAIR’s national executive director.

“This genocidal brutality, which is being exposed daily by piles of charred and dismembered Palestinian civilians, must stop. Sadly, because of President Biden’s insistence on sending more bombs to enable Netanyahu’s war crimes in Rafah, this is now as much an American genocide as it is an Israeli genocide.”

Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters during a military operation launched on the town of Silwad, northeast of Ramallah, verified footage shows.

According to residents, clashes took place after Israeli forces stormed the town. Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank have intensified since October 7 with more than 8,900 people detained since then.