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An Israeli airstrike on the southern Gaza city of Rafah that killed dozens of displaced Palestinians drew widespread international condemnation Monday, with world leaders calling for an investigation into the attack and intensifying the pressure for Israel to end its military campaign in the south.<\/p>\n
President Emmanuel Macron of France said Monday he was \u201coutraged\u201d by the blast, and he called \u201cfor full respect for international law and an immediate cease-fire.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThese operations must stop,\u201d he said, referring to the strike on Sunday. \u201cThere are no safe areas<\/a> in Rafah for Palestinian civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n The strike came just two days after the International Court of Justice appeared to order Israel to immediately halt its offensive in the city. A legal official with the Israeli military said the strike was under review.<\/p>\n Volker T\u00fcrk, the United Nations human rights chief, said, \u201cWhat is shockingly clear is that by striking such an area, densely packed with civilians, this was an entirely predictable outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n Spanish foreign minister Jos\u00e9 Manuel Albares said at a news conference<\/a> Monday that he planned to ask other foreign ministers from the European Union\u2019s member states to support the World Court\u2019s rulings against Israel and to take measures if Israel continues with its Rafah operations.<\/p>\n Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, the U.N. secretary general, condemned Israel\u2019s actions in a post on X.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no safe place in Gaza,\u201d Mr. Guterres wrote<\/a>. \u201cThis horror must stop.\u201d Tor Wennesland, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, condemned the airstrikes and said he was \u201cdeeply troubled by the deaths of so many women and children in an area where people have sought shelter.\u201d<\/p>\n Germany\u2019s public broadcaster reported<\/a> that the country\u2019s vice chancellor, Robert Habeck, said on Saturday that Israel\u2019s offensive in Rafah was \u201cincompatible with international law.\u201d Senior German officials had previously warned Israel against attacking Rafah, but Mr. Habeck\u2019s comments appeared to represent a hardening of that tone in a country with a longstanding policy of support<\/a> for Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael must not carry out this attack, at least not in the way it did in the Gaza Strip before, bombing refugee camps and so on,\u201d Mr. Habeck said.<\/p>\n The Israeli military said the strike was targeting a Hamas compound and that it used \u201cprecise munitions\u201d to kill two senior Hamas leaders. But at least 45 people were killed and more than 200 were wounded in the strike and ensuing fires, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.<\/p>\n In a statement, a spokesman for the White House\u2019s National Security Council, acknowledged that the assault had killed two senior leaders responsible for the Oct. 7 attacks against Israel and said that Israel \u201chas a right to go after Hamas.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut as we\u2019ve been clear, Israel must take every precaution possible to protect civilians,\u201d said Eduardo Maia Silva, the spokesman for the council, before referring to the Israel Defense Forces, adding, \u201cWe are actively engaging the I.D.F. and partners on the ground to assess what happened, and understand that the I.D.F. is conducting an investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n The assault drew criticism from aid groups, like the International Rescue Committee, which issued a statement saying it was \u201chorrified\u201d and calling the area that was hit a \u201cdesignated safe zone.\u201d Israeli officials insist that the strike was outside the area they had designated as a safe zone for civilians. The I.R.C. also called for an end to Israel\u2019s assault, a full cease-fire and for the release of all hostages.<\/p>\n Martin Griffiths, the United Nations emergency relief coordinator, denounced the Israeli strike on social media, and, appearing to reference the Israeli military\u2019s activity in southern Gaza, lamented how aid agencies have struggled to pick up goods at the scale needed.<\/p>\n \u201cSuch impunity cannot continue,\u201d Mr. Griffiths said.<\/p>\n Philippe Lazzarini, chief of UNRWA, the main U.N. aid agency for Palestinians, described the images coming out of Rafah as a \u201ctestament to how Rafah has turned into hell on earth.\u201d<\/p>\n The agency has had difficulty contacting its teams on the ground in Rafah, he said, and some of his staff are unaccounted for.<\/p>\n \u201cUNRWA is doing everything possible not to interrupt the delivery of humanitarian assistance. But with every day passing, providing assistance & protection becomes nearly impossible,\u201d Mr. Lazzarini wrote on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n Catherine Russell, the executive director of UNICEF, said the continued assaults in Rafah pose \u201ca catastrophic risk to the children sheltering there,\u201d adding that many have already suffered extreme loss and hardship.<\/p>\n \u201cThey must be protected, along with the few remaining basic services and infrastructure they need to survive,\u201d Ms. Russell wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n