By Liam Stack
Condemnation intensified on Thursday regarding a fatal Israeli airstrike on a school functioning as a shelter in the central Gaza Strip, as Israel asserted that the facility, packed with individuals displaced from their homes, had transformed into a base for militants.
Formerly referred to as Al-Jaouni School, the location had sheltered approximately 12,000 displaced persons from the Gaza Strip, predominantly women and children, as reported by the United Nations, which managed the school. Israel has reportedly targeted the site five times since the onset of the conflict last October, according to the organization.
Palestinian officials reported that the Israeli attack on Wednesday resulted in the deaths of 18 Palestinians. This included six U.N. staff members, among them the manager of the shelter, marking the highest number of U.N. casualties in a single incident in Gaza since the conflict began, according to the U.N.
On Thursday, Britain’s Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, expressed his disapproval alongside criticisms from the United Nations and other entities, calling the U.N. workers’ deaths “appalling” and renewed calls for a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel. Qatar’s government, a prominent mediator in cease-fire discussions, labeled the strike a “horrifying massacre.”
The Israeli military maintained its defense of the airstrike, claiming that the Nuseirat compound was being utilized as a Hamas “command and control center,” a justification it has consistently employed to rationalize its growing frequency of attacks on schools designated as shelters.
The U.N. human rights agency’s office for Palestinian affairs remarked that the strike “highlights the Israeli military’s ongoing failure to adhere to international humanitarian law.” It stated that should a group like Hamas utilize civilians as human shields, it would constitute a war crime, but “does not absolve Israeli forces of their responsibilities.”
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, urged for an independent and comprehensive investigation, emphasizing that “the persistent lack of effective civilian protection in Gaza is unacceptable.”
Israel provided a list of nine individuals it claimed were Hamas militants killed in the strike, including three it stated were employees of UNRWA, the U.N. agency assisting Palestinians. UNRWA has not yet responded to this assertion.
Earlier, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, spokesperson for the Israeli military, indicated that the military had requested from the United Nations the identities of the six employees it alleged were killed so Israel could “thoroughly investigate the assertion” that they were U.N. staff, but the organization had not provided this information at that time.
Juliette Touma, a spokesperson for UNRWA, the principal U.N. organization operating in Gaza, stated that it was “not aware of any such request,” noting that it shares a roster of its staff members in Gaza and the occupied West Bank with Israel annually.
She added that UNRWA was “not equipped to determine” whether Al-Jaouni School had been utilized for military or combat activities.
“This is exactly why we have consistently advocated for independent investigations into these grave allegations,” she stated.
