US demands accountability for ‘brutal’ attack on village in Sudan

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said its forces attacked a UN-run school near Gaza City on Friday, the second attack on such a facility in two days. The Hamas-run government media office reported three deaths.
The army said the attack was directed against Hamas “terrorists” operating from a container on the grounds of a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Al-Shati refugee camp in the north of the Gaza Strip.
The media office said an Israeli plane attacked the school, killing three people and injuring seven.
On Thursday, an Israeli attack hit another UNRWA school in central Gaza, killing 37 people, according to a hospital.
UNRWA played a key role in relief operations in the besieged Gaza Strip during the eight-month war between Israel and Hamas, and the agency’s facilities throughout the territory were converted into shelters for displaced civilians.
The Israeli army has repeatedly accused Hamas and other Gaza militias of hiding in schools and hospitals, but the group denies this accusation.
In a statement, Hamas called for an international investigation into “these crimes” and demanded that the Israeli leadership be “held accountable and punished.”
Many UNRWA buildings have enough space to house large numbers of people. Gazans have sought refuge there because they thought the UN facilities were relatively safe from bombs.
But UNRWA spokeswoman Juliette Touma told AFP on Friday that “more than 180 UNRWA facilities have been hit since the war began, including many shelters for displaced people.”
“As a result, more than 440 people were killed while seeking shelter under the UN flag,” she said.
UNRWA is sharing the coordinates of all its buildings in the Gaza Strip with all parties to the conflict, including the Israeli army, Touma added.
The war broke out after Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, which killed 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.
According to the Health Ministry of the Hamas-controlled area, at least 36,731 people, again mostly civilians, were killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza.