At least 45 dead and over 180 injured among the displaced Palestinians in the area, including women and children, is the tragic toll of the Israeli raid against two Hamas leaders in Rafah, in the south of the Strip .
The attack - which came a few days after the decision of the Hague Court - sparked condemnation from the world, which loudly ordered the Jewish State to immediately end the military operation .
From the initial findings of the investigation opened by the Israeli military prosecutor, the IDF indicated the cause of the massacre as the fire that broke out immediately after the raid.
The attack hit the Tel Sultan area in western Rafah and was directed against two senior military commanders of the Islamic faction, Yassin Rabia and Khaled Nagar, who were responsible for operations in the West Bank and numerous attacks against Israel. According to the army's reconstruction, for the raid - based on intelligence sources and which did not take place in the humanitarian area of al Mawasi - steps had been "taken to minimize the risk of hitting civilians, including aerial surveillance and the use of special weapons by the air force." But something, evidently, didn't work.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defined the massacre of civilians as "a tragic incident to be regretted" , while an independent commission is managing the investigation opened by the military prosecutor's office.
Hamas for its part denounced yet another "Zionist massacre" and appealed to the Palestinians of "the West Bank, Jerusalem and abroad to rise up and march".
Then, as a result of the raid, he announced that he had informed the mediators of Qatar, Egypt and the USA that he would not return to the negotiating table - expected today - to discuss a new truce and the release of around 120 Israeli hostages.
The UN reacted by immediately calling for a "thorough and transparent" investigation and underlining the urgency of "taking immediate measures to better protect civilians".
