The Israeli military suspects that munitions or some other combustible substance caused a secondary explosion and subsequent fire at a complex housing displaced Gazans in Rafah, following an airstrike aimed at two top Hamas terrorists.
The incident resulted in the deaths of Palestinian civilians, and an investigation is ongoing.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had been tracking Hamas commanders Yassin Rabia and Khaled Najjar prior to the strike on the compound in the Tel Sultan neighborhood in western Rafah on Sunday night. According to IDF intelligence, the area had been utilized for Hamas activities, including a nearby rocket launcher.
[The Algemeiner Report continues]
Initial investigations by the IDF indicate that the two small missiles alone would not have been sufficient to ignite the fire. The probe suggests that ammunition, weapons, or other materials stored in the vicinity may have caused a secondary explosion and the resulting fire.
A senior IDF official provided further details on the investigation to i24 News: “On Sunday night, the IDF eliminated senior Hamas terrorists based on intelligence information. Tragically, a fire killed a number of civilians. The strike zone was one kilometer away from the humanitarian area, which was not in tents but in structures.”
He added, “We used 17-kilogram munitions, the smallest we could, but something else caused the fire near the target. Despite the tragedy, we are trying to understand what started the fire.”
View The Algemeiner report from May 28th