UN Secretary-General condemns deadly Israeli airstrikes in Rafah

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres today condemned the Israeli deadly airstrikes on the tent sheltering displaced people in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah.

Guterres decried in a press release in the strongest terms the 26 May Israeli airstrikes on Rafah hitting tents sheltering displaced people, and noted that he was “heartbroken by the images of the killed and injured, including many small children.”

“As he has said before, the horror and suffering must stop immediately,” the release said.

The Secretary-General reiterated his demand for an immediate ceasefire, and recalled “the recent orders of the International Court of Justice, which are binding and must be complied with.”

He urged Israel, the occupying power, to “allow, facilitate and enable the immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian supplies assistance to those in need, and to open all border crossings.

He stressed the need for “take]ing[ urgent steps that will enable the parties to re-engage on the long-delayed political path to achieve a two-State solution.”

Israeli warplanes today struck the al-Mawasi area near Rafah, which had been designated a "humanitarian zone" by the occupation forces, with several missiles, killing at least 21 people and wounding others, mostly children and women.

Within the last 48 hours, the occupation forces killed 72 displaced people in bombing that targeted the tents housing the displaced people in the Israeli designated “safe zone”.

Tuesday's strikes follows Sunday's widely condemned Israeli attack on the camps of the displaced people in Rafah, which killed at least 45 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded some 250 others.

Tuesday’s airstrikes came just four days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel in a legally binding decision to halt its military offensive in Rafah, which may violate its obligations under the Genocide Convention.

Tried before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7, killing at least 36,096 Palestinians and injuring over 81,136 others.

Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.