- Israeli Airstrike: Attack on al-Taba’een school in Gaza City, killing 60-90 people, including displaced Palestinians
- Conflicting Reports: Israel claims the facility was a Hamas base; Hamas disputes and condemns the strike
- Impact and Response: UN and international critics condemn the attack; ongoing ceasefire efforts strained
An Israeli air assault on a school facility housing displaced Palestinians in Gaza City killed dozens of people, according to Hamas-run authorities in the area.
According to an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokeswoman, al-Taba’een school “served as an active Hamas and Islamic Jihad military facility” with roughly 20 “militants” working there.
The health ministry’s ambulance service reported that at least 60 people were killed and 47 injured.
Earlier, the Gaza Civil Defence Agency, a rescue organization, said that at least 90 people had been killed.
Israel has attacked many similar shelters in Gaza in recent weeks.
According to the United Nations, as of July 6, 477 of Gaza’s 564 school buildings had been directly hit or destroyed, with at least 14 more targeted since.
More than 1,000 individuals were sheltered at Al-Taba’een school, which had just accepted scores of displaced persons from Beit Hanoun after the Israeli army forced them to leave.
The facility also operated as a mosque, and the Israeli strike occurred during dawn prayers, according to witnesses.
Jaafar Taha, a student who lives near the school, reported that the bombing was followed by shouting and noise.
‘Save us, save us’, they were screaming,” he recalled.
“The scene was horrifying. “There were body parts everywhere and blood on the walls.”
Salim Oweis, a spokesman for the UN children’s charity Unicef, called the attack “really outrageous.”
All of those schools are jam-packed with civilians, children, women, and families seeking sanctuary in any free place, be it a school, a mosque, or even a hospital yard.
Israel’s military said it had precisely targeted Hamas terrorists operating within a Hamas command and control center entrenched in the al-Taba’een school.
According to IDF spokesman Lt Col Nadav Shoshani, roughly 20 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, including top leaders, were operating from the facility that was attacked at the al-Tabaeen school, utilizing it to carry out terrorist activities.
Hamas denies it.
The Israeli spokesman stated that the casualty statistics given by Hamas leaders do not correspond to the information held by the IDF, including the precise weapons used and the accuracy of the hit.
The strike was branded as a “horrific crime and a dangerous escalation” in Israel’s “war of extermination against the Palestinian people” by Hamas.
Fatah, Hamas’ main Palestinian adversary in the West Bank, claimed Israel’s goal was to “exterminate Palestinians through a policy of cumulative killing.
The reported casualty estimates for Saturday’s early-morning attack are more significant than in other similar attacks.
However, targeting school facilities has become a common element of IDF operations in recent weeks, presumably as part of an ongoing effort to dismantle Hamas military infrastructure.
According to unofficial counts, more than a dozen schools have been hit since July 1, including four in four days.
The IDF has repeatedly claimed, in nearly identical comments, that Hamas is hiding in schools and using them as command centers to plan and carry out operations, something Hamas rejects.
Whatever the situation, these structures are where many displaced Gazans have taken refuge, and they are paying the highest price.
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The UN ran many schools before the war and strongly criticized the strikes.
It is unclear whether this incident would have an impact on the ongoing attempts to reach a ceasefire agreement, which were hampered by the killing of Hamas senior leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
However, Egypt, one of the mediators involved in efforts to negotiate such a truce, stated that Israel’s “deliberate killing” of unarmed Palestinians demonstrated Israel’s lack of political commitment to stop the conflict.
Jordan claimed that it represented “an indication of the Israeli government’s efforts to obstruct and thwart these efforts.”
On October 7, Hamas-led militants attacked Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others captive in Gaza.
That bombing sparked a large Israeli military offensive on Gaza, resulting in the continuing conflict.
The Israeli campaign has killed almost 39,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
