bazel crashed due to an internal error. Unrecoverable error while evaluating node 'REPOSITORY_DIRECTORY:@WORKSPACE'

### Description of the bug:

I am setting up a new project to build with bazel, but when I run `bazel test //...`, I am running into the error 'java.lang.RuntimeException: Unrecoverable error while evaluating node 'REPOSITORY_DIRECTORY:@WORKSPACE' (requested by nodes '[/Volumes/code/bazel/$$$WORKSPACE_NAME$$$/[external/WORKSPACE]')' where $$$WORKSPACE_NAME$$$ is the name of the workspace and /Volumes/code is a case-sensitive volume on macOS.

I have been unable to pinpoint the trigger cause. I can run `bazel test //tests/...` and `bazel test //:all` but not `bazel test //tests/...`

It is a workspace primarily with python code, that refers to another local workspace using a relative path using local_repository like this
```
local_repository(
name = "common",
path = "../path/to/common",
)
```

We are using this approach in a transitional period. It looks like it happens when bazel tries to access the 'common' repository.

Reported stack trace was
```
bazel test //...
Loading: 0 packages loaded
FATAL: bazel crashed due to an internal error. Printing stack trace:
java.lang.RuntimeException: Unrecoverable error while evaluating node 'REPOSITORY_DIRECTORY:@WORKSPACE' (requested by nodes '[/Volumes/code/bazel/SECRET]/[external/WORKSPACE]')
at com.google.devtools.build.skyframe.AbstractParallelEvaluator$Evaluate.run(AbstractParallelEvaluator.java:633)
at com.google.devtools.build.lib.concurrent.AbstractQueueVisitor$WrappedRunnable.run(AbstractQueueVisitor.java:365)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinTask$AdaptedRunnableAction.exec(Unknown Source)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinTask.doExec(Unknown Source)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool$WorkQueue.topLevelExec(Unknown Source)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool.scan(Unknown Source)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool.runWorker(Unknown Source)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinWorkerThread.run(Unknown Source)
Caused by: java.lang.ClassCastException: class com.google.devtools.build.lib.packages.InputFile cannot be cast to class com.google.devtools.build.lib.packages.Rule (com.google.devtools.build.lib.packages.InputFile and com.google.devtools.build.lib.packages.Rule are in unnamed module of loader 'app')
at com.google.devtools.build.lib.packages.Package.getRule(Package.java:676)
at com.google.devtools.build.lib.repository.ExternalPackageHelper$ExternalPackageRuleExtractor.processAndShouldContinue(ExternalPackageHelper.java:144)
at com.google.devtools.build.lib.repository.ExternalPackageHelper.iterateWorkspaceFragments(ExternalPackageHelper.java:118)
at com.google.devtools.build.lib.repository.ExternalPackageHelper.getRuleByName(ExternalPackageHelper.java:52)
at com.google.devtools.build.lib.rules.repository.RepositoryDelegatorFunction.getRepoRuleFromWorkspace(RepositoryDelegatorFunction.java:444)
at com.google.devtools.build.lib.rules.repository.RepositoryDelegatorFunction.compute(RepositoryDelegatorFunction.java:280)
at com.google.devtools.build.skyframe.AbstractParallelEvaluator$Evaluate.run(AbstractParallelEvaluator.java:562)
... 7 more
```

### Which category does this issue belong to?

Core

### What's the simplest, easiest way to reproduce this bug? Please provide a minimal example if possible.

I am unable to extract a minimal example (without also extracting proprietary information). I am open to help construct a minimal example or gather additional logs, if I can reproduce the error consistently.

### Which operating system are you running Bazel on?

macOS 13.6 (22G120)

### What is the output of `bazel info release`?

release 6.4.0

### If `bazel info release` returns `development version` or `(@non-git)`, tell us how you built Bazel.

_No response_

### What's the output of `git remote get-url origin; git rev-parse master; git rev-parse HEAD` ?

_No response_

### Is this a regression? If yes, please try to identify the Bazel commit where the bug was introduced.

_No response_

### Have you found anything relevant by searching the web?

_No response_

### Any other information, logs, or outputs that you want to share?

_No response_