Gaza war: Israeli says deadly Rafah tent fire caused by a second blast, not its munitions

The Israeli military says an initial investigation into a strike that sparked a deadly weekend fire in a tent camp in the southern Gaza city of Rafah has found the blaze was caused by a secondary explosion.

Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the chief military spokesman, said on Tuesday that the military fired two 17-kilogram (37-pound) munitions that targeted two senior Hamas militants. He said the munitions would have been too small to ignite a fire on their own, and the military is looking into the possibility that weapons were stored in the area.

Palestinian health officials say at least 45 people, around half of them women and children, were killed in Sunday’s strike. The fire also could have ignited fuel, cooking gas canisters or other materials in the densely populated camp housing displaced people.

The strike caused widespread outrage, including from some of Israel’s closest allies. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was the result of a “tragic mishap.”

New strikes in the same western Tel al-Sultan district of Rafah that was hit on Sunday killed at least 16 Palestinians, the Palestinian Civil Defense and the Palestinian Red Crescent said on Tuesday. Residents reported an escalation of fighting in the southern Gaza city once seen as the territory’s last refuge.

An Israeli incursion launched in early May has caused nearly 1 million to flee from Rafah, most had already been displaced in the war between Israel and Hamas. They now seek refuge in squalid tent camps and other war-ravaged areas.