Israel attacks five schools in week of ‘massacres’ | Gaza News

The latest attack on a UN-run school in Nuseirat camp leaves 17 people dead and about 80 injured.

According to Palestinian officials, medics and rescue workers, Israeli forces have attacked five different schools in Gaza in just eight days, killing dozens of people who had sought shelter there.

The latest attack on Sunday hit the United Nations-run Abu Oreiban school in the Nuseirat refugee camp. At least 17 people were killed and around 80 injured. Most of the victims were women and children, the Palestinian civil defense said.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in Deir el-Balah, where some of the injured were taken, said he found women and children with severe burns on the ground “screaming in pain and agony”.

“This is the result of burning bombs,” he said.

The attack came after a deadlier attack on July 9 hit tents near the entrance to Khan Younis’ al-Awda school, killing at least 29 people.

Two days earlier, four people were killed in another attack on the church-run Holy Family School in Gaza City.

The bloodshed in the schools in the Gaza Strip that have been converted into emergency shelters, which Israel accuses Hamas of having fortified, has been a recurring sight throughout the war.

Israel has repeatedly attacked civilian buildings after accusing Palestinian fighters of using them for military purposes, but it has provided no evidence to support its claims. Activists accuse Israel of using disproportionate force against civilians in Gaza. In nine months of relentless bombardment, more than 38,600 people have been killed, most of them women and children.

On Saturday, Israel attacked the al-Mawasi area, which has been designated a security zone, killing at least 90 people and injuring 300 others.

“Massacres are taking place every day across Gaza,” said Palestinian Ambassador to Britain Husam Zomlot after the latest attack on the school. “This is the result of Israeli impunity and the inaction of the international community.”

Since the war began on October 7, Israel has attacked more than 400 schools in the Gaza Strip – among the few places where displaced Palestinians can seek refuge – and destroyed 88 percent of all educational facilities.

Since the enclave’s education system has been destroyed, there is little hope of enrolling in school for the approximately 620,000 school-age Palestinians who do not attend school.

A report published in June by the UN Human Rights Council (OHCHR) said Israel’s repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure, including schools, appeared to constitute violations of international law.

“The lives and infrastructure of civilians are protected by international humanitarian law,” said Volker Turk, Chairman of the OCHCR. “This law clearly sets out the obligations of parties to armed conflict and makes the protection of civilians the highest priority.”

“The choice of methods and means used by Israel to conduct its hostilities in Gaza since October 7, including the extensive use of explosive weapons with a wide area effect in densely populated areas, have failed to ensure effective differentiation between civilians and combatants.”

In January, the International Court of Justice declared that the Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip constituted genocide.

The Israeli attacks not only destroyed most of the schools in the Gaza Strip, but also 60 percent of the homes, 80 percent of the shops and 60 percent of the streets in the enclave.