New explosions and gunfire were heard on Tuesday 28 May in the centre and west of Rafah, a town at the southern end of the Gaza Strip

Despite international condemnation, Israel continues to bomb Rafah. On Tuesday 28 May, Israeli strikes intensified following a deadly attack on a camp for displaced persons, which prompted the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on the situation in Gaza.

AFP teams on the ground reported air strikes and exchanges of fire early in the morning. These new bombardments follow a wave of international condemnation after a strike that caused 45 deaths and 249 injuries on Sunday evening, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, and set fire to tents in a camp for displaced persons.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incident as a ‘tragic accident’. The Israeli army announced that it was investigating the deaths of civilians, after initially stating that it had targeted two senior Hamas officials with ‘precise munitions’.

Reactions and demonstrations An outraged Washington urged Israel to ‘take all necessary precautions to protect civilians’. Canada said it was ‘horrified’, and French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his ‘indignation’. Around 10,000 people gathered near the Israeli embassy in Paris to protest against the bombings.

The demonstrators, some wearing keffiyehs, waved Palestinian flags and placards proclaiming: ‘You don’t kill a child, whether Jewish or Palestinian: Stop the bombing, free Palestine’, ‘Rafah, Gaza, we’re with you’, etc.

At the same time, Spain, Norway and Ireland planned to announce their recognition of the State of Palestine at a press conference in Brussels, a declaration that had aroused the ire of Israel.