An Israeli airstrike on a school serving as a shelter in Gaza City resulted in the deaths of at least 30 individuals and injured numerous others on Sunday, as reported by the Palestinian emergency response agency in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian news outlets. This marks the third attack on a school in the past four days.
According to Mahmoud Basal, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defense, the majority of the victims were women and children.He said that an F-16 fighter jet struck a school called Hassan Salame, where at least 14 people remain buried under the rubble. The neighbouring school, known as Nasser, was also affected by shrapnel and debris, according to a report from New York Post.
The Israeli military said that it had targeted “terrorists” in “Hamas command and control centres” located at the Hassan Salame and Nasser schools. It claimed to have taken “numerous steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians” before the strike, including the use of precision munitions, surveillance, and intelligence, although it did not provide specific details on how it had done so.
Similar scenes occurred on Saturday at Hamama School, where Basal reported 17 deaths due to an attack, and on Thursday at Dalal al-Mughrabi School, where a strike claimed 15 lives, according to Basal.
All four schools had been housing Gaza residents who were forced to evacuate their homes during the war, transforming classrooms and hallways into crowded temporary shelters.
Following each strike, videos on social media depicted burning structures, people screaming or running in shock and confusion, and others lying motionless on the ground.
In its statement on Sunday, the Israeli military asserted that Hamas embeds itself among civilians to use them as human shields, a common defence by Israel as it faces global condemnation over the war’s high death toll. International law experts have said that Israel still has a responsibility to protect civilians even if Hamas exploits them, as Israel claims it does.
Since the war began on October 7, when Hamas led a deadly attack on Israel, most of Gaza’s schools have been used as shelters for thousands of displaced people. The Israeli military has repeatedly bombed school buildings in Gaza or struck the areas around them, often claiming that Hamas was using the buildings. The group denies these claims.
According to Mahmoud Basal, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defense, the majority of the victims were women and children.He said that an F-16 fighter jet struck a school called Hassan Salame, where at least 14 people remain buried under the rubble. The neighbouring school, known as Nasser, was also affected by shrapnel and debris, according to a report from New York Post.
The Israeli military said that it had targeted “terrorists” in “Hamas command and control centres” located at the Hassan Salame and Nasser schools. It claimed to have taken “numerous steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians” before the strike, including the use of precision munitions, surveillance, and intelligence, although it did not provide specific details on how it had done so.
Similar scenes occurred on Saturday at Hamama School, where Basal reported 17 deaths due to an attack, and on Thursday at Dalal al-Mughrabi School, where a strike claimed 15 lives, according to Basal.
All four schools had been housing Gaza residents who were forced to evacuate their homes during the war, transforming classrooms and hallways into crowded temporary shelters.
Following each strike, videos on social media depicted burning structures, people screaming or running in shock and confusion, and others lying motionless on the ground.
In its statement on Sunday, the Israeli military asserted that Hamas embeds itself among civilians to use them as human shields, a common defence by Israel as it faces global condemnation over the war’s high death toll. International law experts have said that Israel still has a responsibility to protect civilians even if Hamas exploits them, as Israel claims it does.
Since the war began on October 7, when Hamas led a deadly attack on Israel, most of Gaza’s schools have been used as shelters for thousands of displaced people. The Israeli military has repeatedly bombed school buildings in Gaza or struck the areas around them, often claiming that Hamas was using the buildings. The group denies these claims.