The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesdaysaid  that a hidden store of weapons may have been the actual cause of a deadly blaze in southern Gaza’s Rafah, and that an airstrike that targeted an adjacent area had used small munitions that would not ignite such a fire on their own

The military suspects that the munitions or some other combustible substance it was unaware of caused a secondary explosion and a fire to spread in a complex housing displaced Gazans in Rafah, killing dozens of Palestinian civilians, following an airstrike targeting two top Hamas terrorists in the area.

It came as Israel pressed ahead with its Rafah operations, which even before it started faced strong opposition, including from the United States. In an effort to keep civilians out of danger, the IDF has instructed them to move to designated safe zones, where many of the people displaced by the war are living in tents.

Meanhwhile, the IDF said it had been tracking Hamas commanders Yassin Rabia and Khaled Najjar ahead of the strike on a compound they were in on Sunday night, in the Tel Sultan neighborhood in western Rafah. According to the IDF’s intelligence, the area had been used for Hamas activity, with a rocket launcher located just a few dozen meters away from where the two commanders were killed.

As per the IDF, the strike was not intended to harm any civilians and it had carried out steps ahead of the attack to ensure that no women or children were in the Hamas compound.

Israeli fighter jets also used two small munitions in the strike, each with a 17-kilogram warhead (37-pound), in an attempt to prevent any civilian casualties, given the close proximity to the camp for displaced Palestinians, the IDF said. However, following the strike, a fire spread in the adjacent complex where Palestinian civilians were sheltering. According to terror outfit Hamas health authorities in Gaza, 45 people were killed and dozens more were wounded.

Earlier on Sunday Minister Benny Gantz, a member of the narrow war cabinet, said that the rockets shot from Rafah prove that the IDF must operate in every place Hamas still operates from, and as such, the IDF will continue to operate wherever necessary.

“The world must know: Those who still hold our hostages captive, shoot at our cities, and continue to propagate terror are responsible for the situation,” Gantz added. “Terrorist Hamas are war criminals, and we intend on making them pay for their crimes – whether sooner or later.”