Israel – Hamas: At least 35 people killed in attack on a UN school in Gaza, according to Palestinian officials
image Source, Reuters
- Author, Matt Murphy and George Wright
- Role, BBC News
An attack on a school that serves as a refuge for displaced Palestinians in Gaza has led to the deaths of at least 35 people, according to several reports, a fact for which the United Nations and the United States have demanded an explanation from Israel.
Local journalists told the BBC that Israeli military aircraft opened fire Two missiles against classrooms on the top floor of the school In the urban refugee camp of Nuseirat, where a UN agency is present.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had carried out an incident “Precise” strike against a “compound” of the terrorist group Hamas at that school, but the Gaza government press office rejected the claim.
Given this, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Israel should publicly identify the Hamas fighters it claims to have killed, something Israelis often do after carrying out attacks but it is rare for the United States to urge them to do so.
“The Israeli government has said it will release more information about the attack, including the names of those killed,” Miller said.
,We hope they are completely transparent while making that information public.
Hours later on Thursday night, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagar named nine Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters he said had been killed in the strike. He said more would be identified after working on “verifying the information.”
image Source, Getty Images
at the time of the attack some 6,000 displaced people took shelter in the school compound, which is run by the United Nations,
Many schools and other UN facilities have been used as shelters by the 1.7 million Palestinians who fled their homes during the war that began eight months ago.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio GuterresThe UN condemned the attack through a spokesperson, stating that UN facilities must be “impenetrable” and protected by “all sides” during a conflict.
This new attack on a Palestinian shelter comes just a week after 45 people were killed in a similar incident in Rafah.
What is known?
Local journalists and residents said the attack occurred in the early hours of Thursday Al Sardi SchoolThe densely populated camp is located in an area southeast of where the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, provides services.
Videos shared on social media showed several classrooms in a school building destroyed as well as bodies wrapped in shrouds.
The dead and wounded were taken to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby town of Deir al Balah, which has been hit hard since the Syrian government launched a new ground operation against Hamas in the central Syria Loop this week.
The BBC is working to confirm details of the attack in Nuseirat. Reports vary on the exact death toll.
According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, he had died 40 people, including 14 children and nine women, And 74 others were injured.
For his part, UNRWA Commissioner General, Philippe Lazzarini, announced At least 35 people were killed And many people were injured. The agency’s communications director, Juliette Touma, told the BBC that its figures came from the agency’s officers on the ground.
image Source, Getty
“The debris fell on us”
Eyewitnesses described scenes of devastation and terror following the attack.
“I was sleeping when the incident happened. Suddenly, we heard a loud explosion and broken glass and debris from the building fell on us,” Uday Abu Elias, a resident of the school, told the BBC.
“The air was filled with smoke and I couldn’t see anything. I didn’t hope to get out alive. I heard someone calling out from under the rubble for survivors to come out. I was straining to see as I stumbled over the bodies of the martyrs.”
The IDF showed an aerial photograph of classrooms on the top two floors of the building, which the army described as a “terrorists’ location”.
However, the US expressed doubts: “We have seen claims that 14 children were killed in this attack, and of course, when that happens – if it’s true – that 14 children die, they’re not terrorists.”
at least 36,470 people have died in Gaza since the beginning of the war.
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