The latest attack on a UN-run school in Nuseirat camp leaves 17 dead and around 80 injured.
Israeli forces have attacked five separate schools in Gaza in just eight days, killing dozens of people sheltering there, according to Palestinian officials, medics and rescuers.
The latest attack on Sunday hit the UN-run Abu Oreiban school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least 17 people and wounding around 80. Most of the victims were women and children, the Palestinian Civil Defense said.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, where some of the wounded were taken, said he encountered badly burned women and children “screaming in pain and agony” on the ground.
“This is the result of the incineration of bombs,” he said.
The attack comes after a more deadly strike hit tents near the entrance to al-Awda school in Khan Younis on July 9, killing at least 29 people.
Two days earlier, another strike on the church-run Holy Family School in Gaza City killed four people.
The bloodshed in Gaza’s schools turned shelters, which Israel accuses Hamas of fortifying, has been a recurring scene throughout the war.
Israel has repeatedly attacked civilian buildings after accusing Palestinian fighters of using them for military purposes, but has provided no evidence to support its claims. Activists have accused Israel of using disproportionate force against civilians in Gaza. More than 38,600 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in nine months of relentless bombardment.
On Saturday, Israel struck the al-Mawasi area, designated as a security zone, killing at least 90 people and wounding 300 others.
“Massacres every day all over Gaza,” Palestinian Ambassador to the UK Husam Zomlot said after the latest school attack. “This is the result of Israeli impunity and international inaction.”
Since the war began on October 7, Israel has bombed more than 400 schools in Gaza, which are among the few places where displaced Palestinians can seek refuge, destroying 88 percent of all educational facilities.
With the enclave’s education system decimated, there is little hope of schooling for the estimated 620,000 school-age Palestinians who are out of school.
A report released in June by the United Nations Human Rights Council (OHCHR) found that Israel’s repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure, including schools, appear to constitute violations of international law.
“Civilian lives and infrastructure are protected by international humanitarian law,” said Volker Turk, head of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. “This law sets out very clearly the obligations of parties to armed conflict, which make the protection of civilians a priority.”
“The methods and means chosen by Israel to conduct hostilities in Gaza since 7 October, including the massive use of explosive weapons with wide range of action in densely populated areas, have failed to effectively distinguish between civilians and combatants.”
In January, the International Court of Justice declared that Israeli attacks in Gaza likely constituted genocide.
In addition to destroying most of Gaza’s schools, Israeli attacks have destroyed 60% of the enclave’s homes, 80% of its businesses and 60% of its roads.
