Israel – Hamas: an attack on a UN school in Gaza leaves at least 35 dead, according to Palestinian authorities

The attack on a school that served as a refuge for Palestinians displaced in Gaza caused the death, according to several reports, of at least 35 people, a fact for which the United Nations and the US have asked Israel for explanations.

Local journalists reported to the BBC that an Israeli military plane fired two missiles against the classrooms on the top floor of the school in the urban refugee camp of Nuseirat, where a UN agency is present.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported that they had carried out a “precision” attack against a “compound” of the militant group Hamas at that school, but the Gaza government press office rejected this claim.

Given this, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Israel should publicly identify the Hamas fighters it claims to have killed, something the Israelis frequently do after carrying out attacks, but it is rare for the United States to urge it. To do it.

“The government of Israel has said it will release more information about this attack, including the names of those who died,” Miller said.

“We hope they are totally transparent when making that information public.

Hours later on Thursday night, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari named nine Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters who he said were killed in the attack. He stated that more would be identified after working to “verify the information.”

At the time of the attack some 6,000 displaced people were sheltering in the school complex, which is administered by the UN.

Many schools and other UN facilities have been used as shelters by the 1.7 million Palestinians who have fled their homes during the war, which began eight months ago.

The Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterrescondemned the attack through a spokesperson, stating that UN facilities must be “inviolable” and protected by “all parties” during conflicts.

This new attack on a Palestinian refuge site comes just a week after 45 people died in a similar situation in Rafah.

Local journalists and residents stated that the attack took place in the early hours of this Thursday in the Al Sardi schoollocated in an area in the southeast of a densely populated camp where the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, provides services.

Videos shared on social media showed the destruction of several classrooms in one of the school buildings, as well as bodies wrapped in shrouds.

The dead and wounded were taken to al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby city of Deir al Balah, which has been overstretched since the Israeli army this week began a new ground operation against Hamas in the center of Loop.

The BBC has been working to verify details of the attack in Nuseirat. Reports on the exact death toll have varied.

According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, they had died 40 people, including 14 children and nine women, and 74 others had been injured.

For his part, the Commissioner General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, declared that at least 35 people had died and many more had been injured. The agency’s communications director, Juliette Touma, told the BBC that her figures came from agency officials on the ground.

Witnesses described a scene of devastation and panic after the attack.

“I was sleeping when the incident happened. Suddenly, we heard a loud explosion and broken glass and debris from the building fell on us,” Udai Abu Elias, a man who lived at the school, told the BBC.

“Smoke filled the air and I couldn’t see anything. I didn’t expect to come out alive. I heard someone calling for the survivors to come out from under the rubble. I strained to see as I stumbled over the bodies of the martyrs.”

The IDF showed an aerial photograph of classrooms on the top two floors of the building, which the military said were “the location of the terrorists.”

However, the US expressed doubt: “We have seen claims that 14 children died in this attack, and certainly, when it happens – if it is correct – that 14 children die, those are not terrorists.”

At least 36,470 people have died in Gaza since the start of the war.

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