Hundreds of pro-Palestine protesters have descended on Sydney Town Hall for an ’emergency rally’ after Israel launched a renewed onslaught in city of Rafah.
An Israeli airstrike killed at least 45 Palestinians and wounded dozens more – many of them reportedly women and children – on Sunday night when it hit an area of the city in the southern Gaza Strip which was agreed to be a ‘safe area’ for those displaced by the war.
Horrific footage from the scene showed people desperately fleeing burning tents and one man holding aloft a child whose head had shockingly appeared to have been decapitated in the blast.
The Palestine Action Group, which has been organising a series of rallies across calling for an end to the conflict, was behind the peaceful gathering on Tuesday evening, which was closely monitored by police.
At the Sydney rally, protesters wearing keffiyeh – a traditional Arabic head dress – held Palestinian flags aloft and listened to speakers who denounced Israel’s actions.
They called on the n government to do more to protect the Palestinian people.
‘Israel has committed another horrific massacre in Gaza, this time bombing displaced Palestinians who were sheltering in tents at Tal as-Sultan in Rafah, in an area designated by Israel as a ‘safe area’ which would not be targeted,’ rally organisers wrote.
‘Over 35 have been killed, mostly women and children, with many burned alive.’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted the civilian deaths were a ‘tragic accident’.
The Israel Defence Force is investigating the strike which was intended to target a ‘terrorist compound’ and which killed two senior Hamas officials.
The collateral damage has caused international outrage.
The strike came two days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to end its military offensive in Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population had sought shelter before Israel’s recent incursion.
On Monday, the White House condemned the scenes in Rafah.
‘The devastating images following an IDF strike in Rafah last night that killed dozens of innocent Palestinians are heartbreaking,’ a spokesperson for President Joe Biden’s National Security Council said.
‘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.
‘But as we’ve been clear, Israel must take every precaution possible to protect civilians.’
French President Emmanuel Macron said he was ‘outraged’ over Israel’s latest attacks. ‘These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians,’ he said on X.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the International Court of Justice ruling must be respected.
‘International humanitarian law applies for all, also for Israel’s conduct of the war,’ Baerbock said.
As Israel has expanded its military onslaught of Rafah in recent weeks in an attempt to root out the last of the Hamas militants taking refuge in the city, more than 800,000 Palestinians have fled the city, deepening the humanitarian crisis inside Gaza.