'All eyes on Rafah' trends as fresh Israeli strike wipes out 37 Palestinians

The 'All eyes on Rafah' phrase started trending online on social media hours after another Israeli shelling overnight on May 28 in southern Gaza city killed at least 37 people, most of them sheltering in tents.

According to Iran's Embassy in India, 'All eyes on Rafah' is a phrase that refers to the ongoing genocide in Rafah, Gaza, with over 1.4 million Palestinians seeking shelter.

The same area was earlier attacked by Israel, causing a blaze at a camp that killed 45 Palestinians on May 26 night, sparking an international outcry. In a sign of growing Israeli isolation, some of its allies like Spain, Norway, and Ireland went to the extent of formally recognising Palestine as a state on May 28.

Meanwhile, the US continued to maintain its neutral position in the ongoing situation in Rafah city. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the Rafah strike won't prompt the Biden administration to alter its policy of supporting Israel.

He said that the US, instead, would look for answers from Israel following the country’s investigation of the incident, which he described as “heartbreaking.”

“As a result of this strike on Sunday, I have no policy changes to speak to. It just happened,” Kirby told reporters at the White House.

“The Israelis are going to investigate it. We’re going to be taking great interest in what they find in that investigation. And we’ll see where it goes from there.”

The strikes over the past few days have hit areas west of Rafah, which had not been ordered by the military to evacuate. Israeli ground troops and tanks have been operating in eastern Rafah, in central parts of the city and along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Shelling late Monday and early Tuesday hit Rafah's western Tel al-Sultan district, killing at least 16 people, the Palestinian Civil Defence and the Palestinian Red Crescent said. Seven of the dead were in tents next to a UN facility about about 200 metres from the site of Sunday night's strike and fire.

The United States and other allies of Israel have warned against a full-fledged offensive in the city, with the Biden administration saying that would cross a red line and refusing to provide offensive arms for such an undertaking. On Friday, the International Court of Justice called on Israel to halt its Rafah offensive, an order it has no power to enforce.

On Tuesday afternoon, an Israeli drone strike hit tents near a field hospital by the Mediterranean coast west of Rafah, killing at least 21 people, including 13 women, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

A witness, Ahmed Nassar, said his four cousins and some of their husbands and children were killed in the strike and that a number of tents were destroyed or damaged. Most of those living there had fled from the same neighbourhood in Gaza City earlier in the war.

(With agency inputs)

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