- Israeli airstrike hits UN-run Gaza school shelter
- Attack kills 39, including women, children
- Conflicting reports on military and civilian targets
After striking a UN-run school that was being used as a shelter and an adjacent home, two attacks in Nuseirat, central Gaza, resulted in the deaths of dozens of individuals.
According to local officials, a school in Gaza was the target of an Israeli airstrike that resulted in the deaths of numerous individuals, including minors.
Israel claimed that it was aiming to destroy a “Hamas compound” when it struck the school-turned-shelter.
According to local health officials, the airstrike resulted in the deaths of at least 39 individuals, including 23 women and children, as reported by Hamas-affiliated media.
The attacks in the Nuseirat area early on Thursday morning were the subject of conflicting information, with a second strike occurring at a nearby residence.
The school, which is operated by the United Nations agency UNRWA, which assists the Palestinians, was struck by Israeli fighter aircraft, according to the Israeli military.
It asserted that the school was utilized as a cover for Hamas and the Islamic Jihad’s operations, but it did not provide any immediate evidence.
Subsequently, a spokesperson for the Israeli military stated that the school was home to 20 to 30 combatants.
The Israeli military stated that a variety of measures were implemented before the assault to mitigate the risk of harming uninvolved civilians during the operation. These measures included the implementation of aerial surveillance and the acquisition of additional intelligence information.
Ismail al Thawabta, the director of the Hamas-run government media office in Gaza, denied Israel’s assertions, alleging that they were intended to “justify the brutal crime it committed against dozens of displaced people.”
Body bags were arranged outside the morgue of a nearby hospital in the refugee camp of Nuseirat, central Gaza, following the strike at the al Sardi School. This was evident in video and image footage from the area.
According to hospital records and an Associated Press reporter who was present at the site, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah received a minimum of 30 bodies from the strike.
Mohammed al Kareem, a Palestinian refugee who is currently residing near the hospital, recounted the tumultuous circumstances that surrounded the facility.
He stated that the injured were immediately transported to the emergency department, and he observed individuals seeking their loved ones among the deceased in the hospital courtyard.
“The situation is tragic,” he stated.
Several injured Palestinians were reportedly treated on the hospital floor in videos that were circulating online.
Mourners gathered around the bodies of the deceased as a funeral was conducted for a portion of the deceased.
The war has resulted in the displacement of the majority of the 2.3 million individuals in Gaza, and UNRWA schools in the region are now serving as shelters eight months into Israel’s offensive.
Israel asserts that it implements precautionary measures to prevent civilian casualties and attributes any fatalities to Hamas and how the organization positions its fighters, tunnels, and weaponry in residential areas.
The Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, stated on Wednesday that the group would demand a permanent end to the conflict in Gaza and Israeli withdrawal as part of a ceasefire plan, which appears to be a rejection of a truce proposal that was proposed by US President Joe Biden last week.
Hospitals on the verge of collapse
Also in central Gaza, the Israeli military announced on Wednesday that its forces were conducting operations “both above and below ground” in the eastern regions of Deir Al Balah and the Bureij refugee camp.
According to Doctors Without Borders, a hospital in central Gaza received at least 70 bodies and 300 injured individuals, the majority of whom were women and children, as a result of a series of Israeli airstrikes that occurred on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital was having difficulty treating the “huge influx of patients,” many of whom were arriving with severe burns, shrapnel wounds, fractures, and other grievous injuries, according to a social media post by the international charity.
The war’s pressure has nearly caused Gaza’s health system to collapse.
The hospital, already treating approximately 700 individuals before the strikes this week, reported that one of its two electrical generators had malfunctioned, jeopardizing its capacity to operate ventilators and incubators for premature infants.
There is an increase in international pressure.
International pressure is increasing on Israel to restrict civilian casualties and on Hamas to comply with the ceasefire agreements.
Spain announced on Thursday that it intends to request permission from a United Nations court to participate in South Africa’s case against Israel, which accuses the latter of genocide. The Gaza health ministry has reported that over 36,000 Palestinians have died since Hamas’s multifaceted attack on Israel on October 7.
In the interim, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and several other countries urged Hamas and Israel to endorse Mr. Biden’s proposal for a permanent ceasefire.
In a joint statement, we urged the leaders of Israel and Hamas to make the concluding compromises required to finalize this agreement at this critical juncture.
According to the White House, the statement was also endorsed by the leaders of Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, Denmark, France, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, and Thailand.
“A pattern that is both familiar and bleak.”
The conflict in Gaza continues to unfold in a pattern that is deeply disheartening and familiar.
A school was the site of an IDF strike that resulted in the deaths of numerous individuals overnight. According to Palestinian media, the deceased included women and children.
The assault occurred in the early hours, at approximately 1:30 a.m.
The individuals residing there had been relocated from other regions of the strip. Videos posted on social media depict bodies in white shrouds.
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According to the Israeli military, it had implemented precautionary measures to prevent civilian casualties and was explicitly targeting militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad who were operating from the school.
The assault occurs in the context of a deteriorating humanitarian situation and the resumption of Israel’s offensive in central Gaza. Aid agencies are again issuing warnings that famine is on the horizon and has already commenced in certain regions.
However, the likelihood of a cessation is diminishing even though negotiations are still underway in Qatar. Hamas has characterized the Israeli position as “contradictory” and stated that it does not assure a “permanent ceasefire,” which is one of the group’s conditions. President Joe Biden provided this description last week.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that Israel would be amenable to a six-week ceasefire. However, he has also stated that Israel’s objective remains the destruction of Hamas as a military and governing entity.
