Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel was investigating “an incident” in which dozens of civilians were killed in Israeli airstrikes near the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
“In Rafah we have evacuated about a million civilians,” Netanyahu said in a speech to the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, in Jerusalem on Monday.
“Tragically, despite our tremendous efforts to prevent harm to non-combatants, an incident occurred yesterday. We are investigating it thoroughly and will learn from it, as is our policy and long-standing behavior.”
“For us, any injury to non-combatants is a tragedy, for Hamas it is a strategy,” Netanyahu said. “That’s the core difference.”
The Hamas-led health authority in Gaza said 45 people were killed and dozens injured in Sunday’s airstrike that hit tents where displaced people were living.
Most of the airstrike’s victims were women and children, the health authority said, describing the incident as a “massacre.”
