'This can no longer be justified': International outcry over Rafah attack piles more pressure on Israel

Global leaders expressed shock and outrage over an Israeli military attack on the southern Gazan city of Rafah that killed more than 45 people, including children, on Sunday night in a tent camp for displaced Palestinian refugees.

The Israel Defense Forces initially said it used "precise munitions" and "intelligence" to target two senior Hamas leaders in the area. It added that it is now investigating the event, after news emerged that the strike started a fire that engulfed the camp, leaving destroyed shelters and charred bodily remains whose images flooded social media.

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his anger in a post on the X social media platform, saying he was "outraged by the Israeli strikes that have killed many displaced persons in Rafah."

"These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians," Macron's post read, adding: "I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire."

Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said: "The Palestinian people are being squeezed without regard for the rights of innocent men, women and children who have nothing to do with Hamas". He further stressed that "this can no longer be justified."

The U.S., meanwhile, called the images coming out of the attack were "devastating" and "heartbreaking," but refrained from demanding a stop to the Rafah operation.

"Israel has a right to go after Hamas, and we understand this strike killed two senior Hamas terrorists who are responsible for attacks against Israeli civilians," a National Security Council spokesperson said, according to Reuters. "But as we've been clear, Israel must take every precaution possible to protect civilians."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the attack as a "tragic incident."

"In Rafah, we have already evacuated about a million uninvolved residents. And despite our utmost effort not to harm uninvolved residents, a tragic incident occurred yesterday. We are investigating the case, we will draw conclusions because this is our policy," he said in remarks to the Israeli parliament, amid angry shouting by opposition lawmakers, according to an NBC translation.

One day prior, Hamas claimed responsibility for what it said was a "big" rocket attack at the Tel Aviv area, the first time the Palestinian militant group has attacked central Israel in nearly four months. The barrage was comprised of up to eight rockets, several of which were intercepted by air defenses, Israel's military said. There were no reported injuries. The IDF said that the rockets were launched from Rafah.

In a statement, the IDF said that Sunday night's strike was on "a Hamas compound in Rafah," where "significant Hamas terrorists were operating."

The court does not have direct enforcement mechanisms for its orders, but individual countries can decide to apply them by issuing penalties for their violation. Just a day after the ICJ's ruling, Israeli airstrikes hit parts of Rafah, and on Tuesday Israeli tanks reached Rafah's city center, according to local witnesses cited by Reuters.

Additionally on Monday, an Egyptian soldier was killed in exchanges of fire between the Israeli and Egyptian forces near the Rafah crossing area.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Monday reported that Western diplomats are warning Israel that European countries may interpret the ICJ's ruling far more strictly following the deadly Rafah strike and the harm done to civilians.

"The question now," the Haaretz report wrote, "is whether the incident, which occurred two days after the ICJ's decision, would increase international pressure for a cease-fire, even without it being conditioned on a hostage release deal."