Death toll in Israeli attack on displaced Palestinians in Rafah rises to 45

An Israeli missile hit a tent in an area  west of the city of Rafah  that was supposed to be safe from attack

Gaza authorities have announced that the death toll from Israeli airstrikes on Palestinian camps near Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip has reached 45. The enclave's health ministry said on Monday that the attack killed 45 people, including 23 women, children and the elderly,  and injured 249 others.

Witnesses said at least eight rockets hit the camp, a designated warning zone, on Sunday night at around 8:45 p.m. local time (5:45 p.m. Japan time).  Wafa News Agency, citing the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), reported that many of the dead were "burned alive" in tents in the Tal al-Sultan area.

Al Jazeera's fact-checking agency Sanad said the attack targeted the Brix camp  west of the city of Rafah. Aerial photos taken on May 24 show hundreds of tents set up in the area near the UNRWA camp. The Israeli attack followed Hamas's first rocket attack on the Israeli city of Tel Aviv in months. Israel said  eight Hamas rockets were fired from the Rafah area, and Hamas forces  continued to carry out ground attacks in the area despite an order from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to cease operations. The Israeli military said its air force attacked Hamas facilities in Rafah and that the attack was carried out "based on precision munitions and accurate intelligence." It said the  attack killed Hamas's West Bank chief of staff  and another senior official involved in deadly attacks on Israelis, and acknowledged reports that "several civilians were injured in the area." He added that he is doing so. He said the incident was "under review."

The attack caused a large fire, which Palestinian civil defense teams were able to extinguish after about 45 minutes.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said its field hospital in Rafah was receiving an influx of injured people, and  other hospitals were also receiving large numbers of patients. Reuters reported that one resident arrived at a Kuwaiti hospital in Rafah to find that the airstrikes had burned down the tents, melted the tents, and melted the  bodies  of the people. Médecins Sans Frontières, known by its acronym MSF, said "dozens of people were injured" and more than 15 people died in the facilities it supports.