Israel bombed a school housing displaced Palestinians in central Gaza on Wednesday, which rescuers said killed 18 people, including UN staffers, while the Israeli army said it hit a Hamas control centre.
The Al-Jawni school in Nuseirat had already been bombed several times over the course of the 11-month war in Gaza.
The latest strike on Wednesday flattened part of the UN-run facility where Gazans had sought shelter, leaving only a charred heap of rebar and concrete.
UNRWA later said six of its staffers had been killed in two Israeli air raids on the Nuseirat school and its surroundings, calling it the highest death toll among its team in a single incident.
Across the besieged strip, many school buildings have been repurposed to shelter displaced families as the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been repeatedly uprooted by the war.
Israeli forces have struck several such schools in recent months, saying Palestinian militants were operating there and hiding among displaced civilians — charges denied by Hamas.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it had conducted a “precise strike” on a Hamas command and control centre within the Al-Jawni compound. It did not elaborate on the outcome, but said “numerous steps” were taken to reduce the risk to civilians.
Survivors of the strike scrambled to retrieve bodies and belongings from the rubble, telling AFP they had to step over “shredded limbs”.
‘Senseless killing’
Gaza has repeatedly been called the world’s deadliest place for humanitarian workers, with aid organisations repeatedly faulting the “deconfliction” process — the coordination of movements with military parties.
In a statement, the UN said that the Nuseirat school had been “deconflicted” earlier on Wednesday.
UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said after the school strike that at least 220 members of the agency’s staff have been killed in Gaza.
UN chief Antonio Guterres called what is happening in Gaza “totally unacceptable”.
In response, Israel’s ambassador to the UN accused Guterres of distorting reality.
Months of behind-the-scenes negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have so far failed to secure a truce.
A Hamas delegation met Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Doha on Wednesday, the militant group said in a statement, which did not indicate whether there was a breakthrough.
Helicopter crash
Israel’s military meanwhile reported the deaths of two soldiers when a helicopter crashed in the area of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah. Another eight soldiers were injured.
The aircraft had been on a “life-saving operation” to evacuate a wounded soldier when it crashed, Major General Tomer Bar said in a Wednesday statement.
With AFP
