Fire rages following an Israeli strike amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video, May 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Reuters TV

i24 News — The Israeli military suspects that munitions or some other combustible substance caused a secondary explosion and subsequent fire at a complex housing displaced Gazans in Rafah, following an airstrike aimed at two top Hamas terrorists.

The incident resulted in the deaths of Palestinian civilians, and an investigation is ongoing.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had been tracking Hamas commanders Yassin Rabia and Khaled Najjar prior to the strike on the compound in the Tel Sultan neighborhood in western Rafah on Sunday night. According to IDF intelligence, the area had been utilized for Hamas activities, including a nearby rocket launcher.

The military clarified that the strike occurred outside the designated “humanitarian zone” in the al-Mawasi region, which is over a kilometer away from the targeted compound. Steps were taken to ensure no civilians, particularly women and children, were present in the Hamas compound at the time of the attack.

Israeli fighter jets employed two small munitions, each carrying a 17-kilogram warhead, to minimize the risk of civilian casualties due to the proximity to the camp for displaced Palestinians.

Despite these precautions, a fire broke out in the adjacent complex where Palestinian civilians were sheltering. Hamas health authorities in Gaza reported that 45 people were killed and dozens more were injured.

Initial investigations by the IDF indicate that the two small missiles alone would not have been sufficient to ignite the fire. The probe suggests that ammunition, weapons, or other materials stored in the vicinity may have caused a secondary explosion and the resulting fire.

A senior IDF official provided further details on the investigation to i24 News: “On Sunday night, the IDF eliminated senior Hamas terrorists based on intelligence information. Tragically, a fire killed a number of civilians. The strike zone was one kilometer away from the humanitarian area, which was not in tents but in structures.”

He added, “We used 17-kilogram munitions, the smallest we could, but something else caused the fire near the target. Despite the tragedy, we are trying to understand what started the fire.”