Live updates from Israel and Gaza: Dozens killed in Israeli attack on UN school, agency reports

A weapon used in an attack on a UNRWA school housing displaced people on June 6 appears to be of U.S. manufacture, three ammunition experts told ABC News.

Journalist Emad Abu Shawiesh recorded a video of weapons fragments at the UNRWA al Sardi school building in Nuseirat in the Gaza Strip on June 6.

The weapon fragments seen in the video are consistent with the tip of a U.S.-made GBU-39 small-diameter bomb, Trevor Ball, a former U.S. Army explosive ordnance disposal specialist, told ABC News.

The GBU-39 was apparently also used in a deadly attack on May 26 in Rafah in the Gaza Strip, according to Ball and another munitions expert who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Mark Hiznay, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Crisis, Conflict and Weapons Division, told ABC News the image shows the remains of a GBU-39.

NR Jenzen-Jones, a director at the consulting firm Armament Research Services, said the image was consistent with the Small Diameter Bomb series.

“Given what we know about the Israeli Defense Forces’ arsenal and munitions used in previous attacks, the remains most likely come from a GBU-39 SDB and include part of the tip (front section) of the bomb,” Jenzen-Jones said, adding that other munitions may have been used in the attack but he had not yet assessed this in detail.

-ABC News Chris Looft

At least 35 people – 14 of them children – were killed and at least 280 others injured in the Israeli attack on a UNRWA school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, the Gaza Strip Health Ministry said on Thursday.

Israeli officials have claimed the attack was directed against Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who were “hiding in the school,” IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said during a press conference on Thursday.

The US State Department said the Israelis claimed they “attacked only part of the building without hitting areas where civilians were seeking shelter,” spokesman Matt Miller said on Thursday.

“At the same time, we’ve seen the reports on the ground. We’ve seen the videos on the ground. We’ve seen the claims that 14 children were killed in the attack, and if that’s true, they’re certainly not terrorists. And that’s why the Israeli government has announced that they’re going to release more information about this attack, including the names of those who died,” Miller said. “We expect them to release this information in a completely transparent manner.”

In a statement, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack on the school, which, according to the UN, housed around 6,000 internally displaced people.

A spokesman for Guterres said: “He stresses that United Nations premises are inviolable, including during armed conflict, and must be protected at all times by all parties. The Secretary-General calls on all parties to respect and protect civilians and ensure that their basic needs are met, in accordance with international humanitarian law.”

-Sami Zayara, Jordana Miller and Shannon Crawford of ABC News

The US State Department announced on Thursday that it had imposed sanctions on a militant Palestinian group called Lions’ Den operating in the West Bank.

The department said the group claimed responsibility for several drive-by shootings around Nablus in 2022, injured and killed Palestinian civilians in clashes with Palestinian Authority security forces that same year, and its fighters reportedly attacked Israeli forces at a checkpoint last April.

The Lions’ Den was the target of an Israeli raid in February. The group is blamed for much of the escalating violence in the West Bank in recent months.

“The United States condemns all acts of violence in the West Bank, regardless of who the perpetrators are, and we will use the tools at our disposal to expose and hold accountable those who threaten peace and stability there,” said State Department spokesman Matt Miller.

The Biden administration also imposed a series of sanctions against Israeli settlers in the West Bank earlier this year, targeting organizations accused of raising funds for extremist settlers and allies of the far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

-Shannon Crawford of ABC News

The United States and 16 other countries issued a joint statement this morning calling on Hamas to accept the ceasefire proposal and agreement to release the hostages outlined by President Joe Biden.

“We note that this agreement would lead to an immediate ceasefire and reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, along with security guarantees for Israelis and Palestinians, as well as opportunities for a more durable long-term peace and a two-state solution,” the joint statement said.

The statement was made by the leaders of the United States, Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand and the United Kingdom.

-Justin Gomez and Kevin Shalvey of ABC News