Fire raging, blood everywhere: What we know about Israeli strike on a tent camp in Rafah

Israel's military did not order civilians to evacuate an encampment in Tal al-Sultan near Gaza's southern city of Rafah before a strike that killed 45 people.

Mahmoud Diab Mouhamed Talal Elataar searched through the scorched remains of what was once a tent in the southern Gaza Strip. He dug at a mound of sand, picking up and discarding burned packets of food.

He was searching for his family. 

“My cousins and the entire family were wiped off the civil record,” Elataar, 20, told NBC News. “No one is alive — the entire family is gone.”

On May 26, an Israeli airstrike on an encampment of displaced Palestinians in Tal al-Sultan, north of Rafah city, was followed by a raging fire. It left burned, bloody and mutilated bodies, twisted sheet metal and fire-blackened earth in its wake. In one video posted to social media, a man could be seen holding up what appeared to be the headless body of a child. 

At least 45 people were killed in the strike and fire, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and the Palestine Red Crescent Society. The ministry said at least 12 women, eight children and three older adults were among those killed. At least three bodies burned beyond recognition and could not be identified. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israeli-airstrike-gaza-family-rafah-wiped-out-rcna154877

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