Israel could have used smaller weapons against Hamas to avoid deaths in Gaza tent fire, experts say

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense experts who have reviewed debris images from an Israeli airstrike that ignited a deadly fire in a camp for displaced Palestinians questioned why Israel did not use smaller, more precise weapons when so many civilians were nearby. They said the bombs used were likely U.S.-made.

The strikes, targeting Hamas operatives, killed as many as 45 people sheltering in a temporary displacement camp near the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Sunday and have drawn international condemnation.

Israel is investigating the attack but says that the Hamas targets were 1.7 kilometers (1 mile) away from a declared humanitarian zone and that its review ahead of the strike determined no expected harm to civilians.

But displaced civilians were scattered throughout the area, and Israel had not ordered evacuations. So even if the tents that burned were not inside the marked humanitarian zone, the civilians there thought it was safe.

Israel, which was attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, has not said how far the burned tents were from the compound it bombed on Sunday. It emphasized that while there were no tents “in the immediate vicinity,” due to “unforeseen circumstances, a fire ignited tragically taking the lives of Gazan civilians nearby.”

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