Attack on Gaza City: Israel attacks school – several dead

According to Palestinian sources, dozens of people were killed in a devastating Israeli air strike on a school building in the city of Gaza. A spokesman for the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Civil Defense Service said at least 93 people were killed in the building, which was used as a refugee shelter.

The Israeli military confirmed the attack, which targeted a Hamas command center located in the attacked building. The air force used small-caliber rockets, which is why the number of casualties could not be that high, the army said. Neither side’s statements could be independently confirmed.

The attack took place in the early hours of the morning, when many were performing their morning prayers. The men were on the ground floor and the women and children on the upper floor of the Al-Tabain school in the center of Gaza city.

Clinics in Gaza at their limit

Eyewitnesses reported horrific scenes. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air and body parts were scattered far and wide, said a man from the neighborhood who rushed to the scene after the explosion. He said he was in tears. A woman who survived the attack upstairs said she had lost ten relatives, including her father, two sons and her brothers.

Palestinian medical and security sources estimate that more than 100 people have died and dozens more are injured. The spokesman for the civil defense pointed out that many more people would die because the hospitals in the Gaza Strip were hardly able to provide adequate care for the seriously injured.

The Israeli military said that Hamas had set up a command center in the prayer room of the Al-Tabain school in the center of Gaza City. According to the military, at least 20 Hamas fighters were there at the time of the attack. The Islamist organization denied this. The victims were civilians, it claimed in a statement.

Mediation states condemn Israel’s attack

The momentous attack provoked outrage in the region. Egypt and Qatar – two Arab countries that are mediating in the indirect ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas – condemned the “massacre”. It was a “continuation of large-scale crimes” in which “huge numbers of unarmed civilians” were killed, the Foreign Ministry in Cairo said. The attack was “clear proof” that there was no will on the Israeli side to end the brutal war in the Gaza Strip.

In a statement carried by the state news agency QNA, the Qatari Foreign Ministry spoke of a “brutal crime against defenseless civilians.” Qatar called for an urgent international investigation into the incident.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was appalled by the attack. “At least ten schools have been targeted in recent weeks. There is no justification for these massacres,” Borrell wrote on Platform X. “We are appalled by the terrible total number of victims.” A ceasefire is the only way to stop the killing of civilians and ensure the release of the hostages, he warned.

Israel: Hamas abuses civilians as human shields

In the war that has been raging for ten months in the sealed-off coastal area, many civilians are repeatedly killed in Israeli attacks. Israel’s aim in the war is to destroy Hamas. Israel explains that civilians are repeatedly among the victims by saying that Hamas terrorists have barricaded themselves in schools and hospitals and are using civilians as human shields. Civilian casualties are regrettable “collateral damage” of legitimate military actions, according to the statement.

These – and contrary – statements can hardly be verified in individual cases. The International Court of Justice in The Hague is currently examining a lawsuit brought by South Africa seeking a ruling that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza war. Israel vehemently denies this.

The Commissioner General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, condemned the latest Israeli attack. Schools – like other civilian facilities – should never be a target for the parties to the conflict and should not be used for military purposes.

The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre with more than 1,200 deaths that terrorists from Hamas and other groups carried out in Israel last October. According to the Hamas-controlled health authority on Saturday, 39,790 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip and another 91,702 injured since the war began. The figures do not distinguish between civilians and fighters and cannot be independently verified.

A ceasefire in the Gaza war is considered the key to defusing the situation in the Middle East. The USA, Qatar and Egypt have urged both sides to reach an agreement in a joint statement.

Note: This post has been updated.