In Netanyahu's Israel, the Rafah horror was neither 'a mishap' nor exceptional: Haaretz Editorial

Haaretz, the longest-running newspaper in Israel, has said in its editorial that the 26 May attack on Rafah carried out by Israel Defense Forces and killed at least 45 Palestinians in a refugee camp was "neither a mishap nor exceptional."

"'A tragic mishap' is the euphemism that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chose to describe 26 May's horrific incident in which about 45 Palestinian refugee camp residents in Rafah were killed and dozens of others wounded because the Israel Defense Forces decided to target and kill two wanted men," read the editorial published on 29 May.  

The editorial said it took Netanyahu 20 hours to produce "the disgraceful statement," which, as usual, lacked any shred of regret over the death of "non-combatants."

"The atmosphere within the public over the fate of non-combatant Palestinians moves between apathy and joy over their deaths. Considering this amid a willful media blackout regarding the scope of death and destruction over the last eight months, resulting in more than 34,000 dead Palestinians, which includes thousands of children and the elderly, Netanyahu discovered the terrible face of this 'total victory' war," it said. 

Criticising the Israeli PM on his statement, the editorial said one can imagine that it wasn't deep sorrow or grief that caused him to view the deaths in Rafah as a tragedy but rather his recognising the threat to his global freedom of movement after the arrest warrants requested by the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court. 

"These warrants require him to audibly demonstrate, at the very least, a modest measure of humanity," it said. 

The Haaretz editorial also criticised the IDF's explanation regarding the incident. 

"What's particularly concerning is the explanation that the IDF provided regarding the incident – that based on intelligence data and meticulous planning for the bombardment, 'it had been assessed that it was not expected to cause damage to non-combatant civilians.' If they were the same assessments that so far have caused the deaths of more than 36,000 people, most of them non-combatants, this involves an ongoing failure at the strategic level," it read. 

Haaretz said the strike in Rafah and the death of an Egyptian soldier at the border crossing after clashing with Israeli forces cannot be considered exceptional incidents, only requiring an investigation and drawing lessons. 

"They're an inseparable, expected and dangerous component of the war in Rafah that has already thrust us into an international arena that has lost all confidence in the Israeli government, in the IDF and the Israeli judicial system. It endangers the continued support of our most important friends in the world, particularly that of the United States," it said. 

"Of even greater seriousness, the Israeli government can pretend that it's not impressed by the international pressure and deceive Israelis into thinking that it can fight alone. But when it continues to pursuing the operations in Rafah, it threatens the opportunity for hostage negotiations at precisely the time when perhaps another chance at advancing them has been created," the editorial read. 

It's a campaign that is reliant on an inherent lie that capturing Rafah would provide leverage over Hamas at a time when, despite the major blows that it has sustained, Hamas continues to adhere to its stance that only stopping the war might bring about the hostages' release, it read. 

The editorial concluded that the release of the hostages is now the only realistic national goal remaining for the Israeli government, and it cannot be conditioned on capturing Rafah, "defeating Hamas," or "eliminating the threat to Israeli-Gaza border communities."

On 26 May, an Israeli airstrike triggered a massive blaze, killing at least 45 people in a tent camp in the Gaza city of Rafah and prompting an outcry from global leaders who urged the implementation of a World Court order to halt the assault.

In scenes grimly familiar from a war in its eighth month, Palestinian families rushed to hospitals to prepare their dead for burial after the strike late on Sunday night set tents and rickety metal shelters ablaze.

Israel said initial investigations showed an attack against commanders of the Hamas militant group set off the fire. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the next day that the air strike was not intended to cause civilian casualties and would be investigated.

"In Rafah, we already evacuated about 1 million non-combatant residents, and despite our utmost effort not to harm non-combatants, something, unfortunately, went tragically wrong," he said in a speech in parliament that was interrupted by shouting from opposition lawmakers.

"We are investigating the incident and will reach conclusions because this is our policy."