Gaza live: Israel to build 'different government' in Gaza, says defence minister

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Sunday's air strike on Rafah that killed 45 Palestinians was not intended to cause civilian casualties and would be investigated.

Netanyahu said "something unfortunately went tragically wrong" in a speech in parliament.

"We are investigating the incident and will reach conclusions because this is our policy," he said.

A White House National Security Council spokesperson commented on the Israeli strike on displaced Palestinians that killed 45 people, saying that while Israel should "take every precaution" to protect civilians, Israel "has a right to go after Hamas".

"Israel has a right to go after Hamas, and we understand this strike killed two senior Hamas terrorists who are responsible for attacks against Israeli civilians," the spokesperson said, as reported by Reuters.

"We are actively engaging the IDF and partners on the ground to assess what happened, and understand that the IDF is conducting an investigation.

"The spokesperson referred to the footage that came out of the strike - which included a baby whose head was severed from its body - as "devastating".

Yemen's Houthi movement said they launched a series of new attacks, targeting three ships in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, as well as targeting two US destroyers in the Red Sea.

The Houthis have described their attacks on ships in the Red Sea and nearby areas as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza. The US has responded to these attacks by targeting Houthi positions in Yemen.

Israeli forces launched another strike on Rafah, this time killing two workers from the Kuwait Hospital, which is currently the only operational hospital in the southern city in the Gaza Strip.

Al Jazeera Arabic reporter Anas al-Sharif reported the deaths on the scene on Monday.

Click here to view the post (Graphic footage warning).

“We were sitting down in peace when we suddenly heard the explosion,” said Layan al-Fayoum, a survivor of the Israeli attack on Rafah that took place on Sunday night, killing dozens of displaced Palestinians residing in tents.

“It was so sudden. The bombs came down without a warning.”

The young teenager went out of her tent to see what happened and was shocked by the large inferno that had engulfed the site. 

“The flames were huge,” she told Middle East Eye. 

“We saw tents on fire and then had to recover dismembered limbs and dead children.”

To read the accounts of other survivors from yesterday's massacre in Rafah, click on the full story below.

Headless child, charred bodies: Survivors recount Israel’s Rafah camp massacre

Egypt has confirmed the killing of one of its soldiers in a fire exchange with Israeli soldiers near the Rafah crossing.

In a statement on X, the Egyptian military spokesperson said Egypt is currently investigating the incident. 

Earlier, the Israeli military has confirmed there was a shooting incident on the Egyptian border, and that "dialogue is taking place with the Egyptian side".

Hamas leaders will not take part in hostage negotations after the Israeli attack on a civilan camp in Rafah, Israeli Haaretz has reported, quoting Hamas sources.

Hamas has notified mediating countries of its decision.

Earlier, Israel has announced that talks for a hostage deal will be held this week, but no details were further mentioned.

The Palestinian foreign ministry has labelled the Israeli attack on a civilans' camp on Rafah,  as a “heinous massacre”, calling on all countries supporting Israel to "awaken conscience, morals and law" against the genocidal war Palestinians are being exposed to. 

“The ministry considers this crime as new evidence proving that Israel’s declared war is against Palestinian civilians, and refutes the occupation’s claims of the existence of safe zones in the Gaza Strip,” it said.

Israeli government spokesperson Avi Hyman says initial reports of an investigation into the Israeli attack on a camp in Rafah shows that "somehow a fire broke" which caused the death of 45 Palestinian civilians.

In an interview with the BBC, which Hyman posted on X, he said the Israeli forces were after "two high value Hamas targets" that had "tons of Israeli and British blood on their hands". 

He stated that the Israeli army is "investigating every accident of this nature to see what exactly happened".

When asked whether Israel has designated the bombed area as "safe area" for civilians to go to in Rafah, Hyman said "that is unclear".

In what is being described as a massacre in Rafah on Sunday night, the Health Ministry in Gaza says 45 people have been killed in the Israeli attack of displaced Palestinians, including 23 women, children and elderly, with 249 wounded.

An Egyptian soldier was killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli forces at the Rafah crossing on Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip on Monday, according to Israeli media. 

Kan public broadcast said no Israeli soldiers were hurt in the incident which left one Egyptian killed and others wounded.  

There was no immediate comment from the Egyptian authorities. 

The Israeli military said: "A few hours ago there was a shooting incident on the Egyptian border, the [incident] is under investigation, dialogue is taking place with the Egyptian side." 

Read more: War on Gaza: Egyptian soldier 'killed' by Israeli forces near Rafah crossing

Britain's Labour Party leader Keir Starmer described the scenes and reports coming from Gaza's southern Rafah as "horrifying," saying he was "shocked" by what he saw following the Israeli attacks on civilian camps on Sunday night.

Starmer, who is gearing up for the July 4 British general election, told reporters that he will push to bring the Israeli military operations in Rafah to a halt if he becomes the UK's prime minister.

When asked about what would he tell Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he is elected, Starmer answered: "Stop."

"What makes it worse is that this was a safe zone, with women and children in it, families that had already fled a number of times,” he said.

The UAE has strongly condemned Israel's ongoing violations in Gaza, including the latest bombing of a camp in southern Rafah on Sunday night.

In a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the UAE stressed the need for an immediate ceasfire, noting the importance of committing to the measures recently issued by the International Court of Justice in this regard. 

Earlier, several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt and Jordan, have issued statements criticising what was described as a "massacre" that took place in Rafah.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his country will do “everything possible” to hold “barbaric” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to account over what has been called a massacre in Rafah. 

“We will do everything possible to hold these barbarians and murderers accountable who have nothing to do with humanity,” Erdogan said following an Israeli strike on Sunday that killed at least 45 Palestinians most of them women, children and the elderly, in an area for people forecefully displaced by Israel. 

Soon after an Israeli air strike slammed into a camp in southern Gaza’s Rafah on Sunday night, tearing through the bodies of dozens of Palestinian men, women and children and igniting a ferocious blaze, video footage of the aftermath drew horror and condemnation worldwide.

In Israel, however, prominent figures and members of the public celebrated the massacre and the fire as the perfect way to celebrate a religious holiday.

Sunday was Lag BaOmer, a Jewish holiday where people across Israel light bonfires as a representation of spiritual light brought by Shimon bar Yochai, a revered second-century rabbi.

Read more: Israelis celebrate Rafah massacre as Jewish holiday bonfire

Attention must now be directed towards the overnight “massacre” committed in Rafah by the Israeli military said the US-based Jewish advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace.

“We will never forget the images emerging from Rafah tonight. Human beings, including babies, were burned alive and torn apart. This genocide must end, it must end now,” Jewish Voice for Peace said in a statement posted on X.

“We hold the US government, in addition to the Israeli government, responsible for the slaughter of over 36,000 Palestinians, for the siege and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza, and for mass destruction of infrastructure and land. We demand an end to all US funding to the Israeli military now. People of conscience throughout the world are calling for an end to genocide.”