Headless child, charred bodies: Survivors recount Israel’s Rafah camp massacre

After sunrise, survivors of the Israeli bombing of a Rafah displacement camp returned to assess the damage. 

Children peeked through the window of a hollowed-out car, men searched the burnt debris, and journalists took photos of the blackened food cans.

Around 12 hours earlier, Palestinian families were inside these tents, which were set ablaze after the Israeli military bombed the encampment, located in northwestern Rafah. 

Many had just finished night prayers, some were asleep and others were simply gathered with their families. 

“We were sitting down in peace when we suddenly heard the explosion,” said Layan al-Fayoum, a survivor of the attack. 

“It was so sudden. The bombs came down without a warning.”

The young teenager went out of her tent to see what happened and was shocked by the large inferno that had engulfed the site. 

“The flames were huge,” she told Middle East Eye. 

“We saw tents on fire and then had to recover dismembered limbs and dead children.”

The attack took place around 10 pm local time. Israeli jets dropped bombs on the makeshift camp, causing a fire that burned some 14 tents, according to one eyewitness. 

The camp is located in the Israeli-designated “humanitarian zone” near a UN storage facility, according to analysis by Al Jazeera Arabic. 

The Palestinian health minister said 45 people were killed in the attack. Another 249 were wounded, some seriously, including people with severe burns and severed limbs. 

Health officials said they are overwhelmed by the volume and type of injuries, as only one hospital is operational in Rafah due to Israel’s destruction of the health system across Gaza. 

First responders described similar challenges as 80 percent of the Palestinian civil defence capabilities have been destroyed since 7 October. 

This was all evident after the bombing, as firefighters, paramedics, and residents struggled to contain the fire. 

'We had to recover dismembered limbs and dead children'

- Layan al-Fayoum, Palestinian girl

Chaotic scenes ensued, with panicked survivors running for safety amidst the charred bodies as one man held a headless child and a medic carried another with his brains blown out.

“I came out of my tent and saw fire everywhere,” said Mohammad Abo Sebah, an eyewitness. 

“A young girl was screaming, so we helped her and her adult brother. When we returned, the encampment was totally destroyed.” 

It took around 11 fire trucks between one and two hours to finally stop the fire, according to al-Fayoum. 

The teenager said her family were planning to relocate to another camp on Monday morning as the Israeli attacks in Rafah had increased in recent weeks.  

But they have lost their money in the fire, meaning they can’t go anywhere now and have no tent to shelter in. 

“They said these were safe zones,” Abo Sebah told MEE. 

“This occupation is despicable and criminal.”

'Destruction, corpses, and killings'

The Israeli military said it used “precise ammunition” in the attack, allegedly to kill two members of Hamas’ armed wing.

It added the incident was “under review” and that it regrets “any harm to non-combatants during the war”. 

Abo Sebah, who fled central Gaza to this encampment in January, said he did not buy the Israeli claims.

“What else do you expect them to say?” he told MEE. 

'There’s no safe place here. Not even the dead who are buried underground are safe' 

- Mohammad Abo Sebah, massacre survivor

“We have never seen any resistance fighters here. The fighters are in the combat zones in eastern Rafah. 

“The Israelis just say these things to justify their actions. They want to kill the Palestinian people, forcibly expel them, and destroy their homes.”

Abo Sebah lost his home in November when it was bombed by Israeli warplanes in an attack that killed two of his sons, his daughter, and her two-year-old infant. 

He came to Rafah seeking safety, as Israel told Palestinians to come to the southern city earlier in the war to avoid dangerous areas elsewhere. 

“There’s no safe place here. No one is safe. Not even the dead who are buried underground are safe,” Abo Sebah said. 

“Destruction, corpses, and killings. This is our life.”

The bombing prompted global condemnations of Israel. 

Several Arab states decried it, including Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar. 

Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign policy chief, called it “horrifying”. 

"There is no safe place in Gaza. These attacks must stop immediately,” he said on social media platform X. 

Similarly, French President Emmanuel Macron said he was "outraged" by the strikes. 

"These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians," he said on X.

The massacres came two days after the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel must halt its Rafah offensive in the ongoing case accusing Israel of genocide in its war on Gaza.

Israel rejected the ruling and said its offensive in Gaza was in line with international law.

This article is available in French on Middle East Eye French edition.