Israel-Gaza updates: Blinken tells Israel onus is on Hamas to accept cease-fire

Remarking on the deadly Rafah strike that killed 50 Palestinians and injured 249 others, the Israel Defense Forces said “a fire ignited tragically taking the lives of Gazan civilians nearby,” in a statement Tuesday.

“Sadly, following the strike, due to unforeseen circumstances, a fire ignited tragically taking the lives of Gazan civilians nearby. Despite our efforts to minimize civilian casualties during the strike, the fire that broke out was unexpected and unintended,” IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said.

“This is a devastating incident which we did not expect. We are investigating what caused the fire that resulted in this tragic loss of life,” he added.

Hagari said earlier that the strike had killed the two Hamas commanders they targeted.

-ABC News’ Dana Savir

Israel said it killed two Hamas commanders — fulfilling its goal — in its strike on Rafah, which also killed 50 Palestinians and injured at least 249 others in a displaced persons camp on Sunday.

The explosion and subsequent inferno at the camp remains under investigation, IDF chief spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters Tuesday.

Hagari did not confirm reports of tanks in Rafah, but ABC News has confirmed there are Israeli tanks in central Rafah, according to an eyewitness report.

-ABC News' Joe Simonetti

Days after a deadly strike on Rafah killed 50 Palestinians and injured at least 249 others, a father of five who lost his wife told ABC News his family fled from Beit Lahia to Deir al-Balah — in the south of Gaza — before heading to Rafah for safety.

"One of my disabled sons had his leg amputated and my wife was killed. What injustice is this?" Murid Saadi Agha told ABC News. "There is no justice in the world. Israel is above all the law."

"I hold America and Israel responsible. We are innocent," he said.

Three of Agha's children have already lost limbs in the war.

"After sunset, my wife and I were sitting here outside the shelter with our neighbors, and my disabled son was feeding his other disabled brother, who is older than him. Even the Indomie that he was eating was still here," he said, describing the aftermath of the deadly Rafah strike.

"There was a very intense explosion. My wife declared once that the shrapnel entered her chest and killed her. I went to my sons and found that one of them had an amputated foot, as the shrapnel entered from the top and from the side. There were many martyrs here. It was a massacre," he said.

Strikes on Rafah have continued, barely 48 hours since an Israeli airstrike near a camp of displaced people killed 50 and injured 249 others. The continued offensive comes as at least 36,050 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7 and 81,026 others have been injured.

The Israel Defense Forces said their ongoing Rafah operation is "precise."

The Israeli military's deadly airstrike in Rafah on Sunday night hit an area about 650 feet away from the boundary of an IDF-designated "humanitarian area," according to an ABC News analysis of geolocated images and the IDF's statements and maps.

The U.N. Security Council will hold an emergency meeting later Tuesday to discuss Sunday's strike on Rafah.

At least 1 million people have fled Rafah in the past three weeks, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

-ABC News' Victoria Beaule and Chris Looft