Israel killed over 100 Palestinian civilians, including women and children, in a strike on a Gaza City school sheltering displaced people during fajr prayers.
According to officials in Gaza, the dead included women, children, and the elderly. The death toll will climb as rescue efforts continue.
The school was a sanctuary for over 1,000 people who had fled from the town of Beit Hanoun following Israeli evacuation orders.
The building, which also served as a mosque, was struck while worshippers were performing their dawn prayers, creating a scene of horror and devastation.
The majority of fatalities appear to have been inside the mosque, UN rights office OHCHR reported.
Eyewitness accounts and graphic videos on social media paint a grim picture of the aftermath. Charred bodies and severed limbs were strewn across the floors as survivors frantically searched for loved ones. Other footage showed dead bodies covered in cloth laid out in a courtyard.
The international community has responded with outrage and condemnation. Qatar and Egypt, two key mediators in ceasefire negotiations, quickly denounced the attack. Palestinian political factions, NGOs, and the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) condemned the strike.
Between 7 October and 8 August, the Israeli genocide has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians with over 90,000 others injured, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
Systematic attacks on schools
This attack marks at least the 21st strike on a school serving as a shelter that the UN Human Rights Office has recorded since July 4. These strikes have resulted in a staggering total of at least 274 fatalities, predominantly women and children.
“Despite IDF statements that all measures are taken to avoid civilian harm, the repeated strikes on shelters [for displaced people] in areas to which the populations have been forced to move and the consistent and predictable impact on civilians suggest a failure to strictly comply with obligations required by international humanitarian law,” OHCHR stated.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA, said on social media: “Another day of horror in Gaza, another school hit with reports of dozens of Palestinian killed among them women, children and older people,” he said.
“It’s time for these horrors unfolding under our watch to end,” he added. “We cannot let the unbearable become a new norm. The more recurrent, the more we lose our collective humanity.”
Israel claimed to have targeted a Hamas “command and control centre” at the school but provided no evidence to support the claims.
The systematic attacks on schools come as 90% of Gaza’s population is displaced, with Israel continuing to destroy homes and block humanitarian aid.
“IDPs face indescribable horror after 10 months of hostilities, including multiple forced displacements, the rapid spread of diseases, and ongoing denial of access to the basic necessities of life. For many, schools are the last resort to find some shelter and possible access to food and water,” said the UN Human Rights Office.
