Israeli Attack On Gaza School Results In 22 deaths
According to the Hamas-run health ministry, a hit on a UN-run school in central Gaza that is being used as a shelter by displaced persons on Sunday resulted in at least 22 Palestinian deaths and 100 injuries. The Israeli military claimed to have hit several Hamas “terrorists” who were based at the urban Nuseirat refugee camp’s Abu Oraiban School. Children were among the dead, witnesses reported on several media outlets, and there were no armed combatants present.
In the last eight days, five attacks have occurred on or near schools. There were new air and artillery strikes in central Gaza on Monday, according to residents, and one of the strikes targeted a house in the Maghazi refugee camp, killing five people. The Israeli military reported that throughout the previous day, its planes had attacked numerous “terror targets” around the region.
In the meantime, following an airstrike in the southern al-Mawasi humanitarian area on Saturday that resulted in the deaths of over 90 people, according to the health ministry, Hamas stated that indirect talks on a ceasefire and hostage release agreement with Israel were “ongoing.”.
According to the Israeli military, it had targeted a compound where Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas’s armed wing, and Rafa Salama, the commander of its Khan Younis Brigade, were sheltering.
Although the military confirmed Salama’s death, they stated it was too soon to determine whether Deif also perished. Deif is in good health, according to Hamas.
According to a US State Department spokesman, Antony Blinken met with two important Israeli officials on Monday and voiced grave concerns regarding the recent civilian losses.
In a conversation with Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and national security advisor Tzachi Hanegbi, the US Secretary of State was informed that Israel remained dedicated to achieving a ceasefire agreement following Joe Biden’s May specifications.
In response to an enormous onslaught on southern Israel on October 7, which resulted in around 1,200 deaths and 251 hostages, Israel began a military campaign in Gaza to defeat Hamas.
Since then, the health ministry of Gaza has reported more than 38,660 deaths there; the data do not distinguish between soldiers and civilians. Since then, the health ministry of Gaza has reported more than 38,660 deaths there; the data do not differentiate between soldiers and civilians.
90% of Gaza’s population, or an estimated 1.9 million people, have reportedly been forced to leave their homes, with some having relocated up to ten times, according to UN estimates.
When it happened on Sunday afternoon, many were allegedly taking sanctuary at Abu Oraiban School, which is administered by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa).
“The walls of the room collapsed on us as soon as the explosion occurred,” A survivor stated. “I saw a mutilated corpse that people were covering with blankets, and I saw a little kid whose leg was bleeding. A young child with his entire face bleeding was also seen lying in a pool of blood.
“I quickly ran out of the school,” she continued. At the school entrance, I discovered my aunt, who was holding her scorched small boy. I witnessed numerous injured people lying on the ground with mutilated bodies when I left the school.
A different inhabitant mentioned that his family had been residing at the school for half a year since UN buildings were meant to be secure.
He went on, “There’s no reason to strike schools this way, and there are no armed men.” “Most of the deceased and injured individuals are students at this school who are female.”
The school served as “a hideout and operational infrastructure” for Hamas combatants, according to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), from which they planned and executed operations against its troops.
“Several precautions were taken ahead of the strike to reduce the possibility of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions and additional intelligence,” the statement continued.
In addition, the IDF charged that Hamas often broke international law by using civilians and civilian infrastructure as “human shields,” a charge that the organization has refuted.
The AFP news agency was informed on Sunday night by a representative of the Hamas-run Civil Defence Force in Gaza that 15 people had died, most of them women and children.
The health ministry announced on Monday that the number of fatalities had increased to 22, although it gave no further information.
Hamas denounced the Israeli strike against the displaced Palestinians as an “extension of the genocide.”
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Since July 6, the IDF has admitted to launching five strikes on or near schools that serve as shelters for displaced persons. They allegedly used combatants, police personnel, and politicians close to Hamas as bases.
Hospital officials said on Tuesday that an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people outside a school in the town of Abasan al-Kabira, close to the southern city of Khan Younis, resulted in the deaths of at least 29 individuals.
Twenty people in all, including a high-ranking official of the Hamas leadership, were allegedly slain in three previous attacks at two additional Unrwa-managed schools in Nuseirat and a church-run school in Gaza City.
Content Credit| Ogunsanya Sidikat Tolani
Picture Credit | https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd1631w5n9vo
