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Posted: 2024-05-28T11:56:49Z | Updated: 2024-05-29T03:58:11Z

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) Israeli shelling and airstrikes killed at least 37 people, most of them sheltering in tents, outside the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight and on Tuesday pummeling the same area where strikes triggered a deadly fire days earlier in a camp for displaced Palestinians according to witnesses, emergency workers and hospital officials.

The tent camp inferno has drawn widespread international outrage, including from some of Israels closest allies, over the militarys expanding offensive into Rafah. And in a sign of Israels growing isolation on the world stage, Spain, Norway and Ireland formally recognized a Palestinian state on Tuesday.

The Israeli military suggested Sundays blaze in the tent camp may have been caused by secondary explosions, possibly from Palestinian militants weapons. The results of Israels initial probe into the fire were issued Tuesday, with military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari saying the cause of the fire was still under investigation but that the Israeli munitions used targeting what the army said was a position with two senior Hamas militants were too small to be the source.

The strike or the subsequent fire could also have ignited fuel, cooking gas canisters or other materials in the camp. The blaze killed 45 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials count. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the fire was the result of a tragic mishap.