At least 17 Palestinians, including eight children and five women, died this Saturday in the Israeli bombing of a school complex in Gaza City. The Israeli army assures that the building, where dozens of refugees were housed, was used by Hamas, as medical sources and rescue teams informed EFE.
The attack comes amid an Israeli escalation against Lebanon that threatens to take the conflict beyond the borders of Gaza, where Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has been fighting Hamas since the October 7 attacks, to widen the front against Hezbollah in the neighboring country. On Friday, a bombing in Beirut killed at least 16 members of the Shiite militia, including one of its top commanders, Ibrahim Aqil.
According to a medical source at Baptist Hospital, so far 17 bodies have arrived at the morgue, mostly children and women. People are still missing and rescue teams are working to evacuate more bodies, after two F16 missiles hit a three-story school building.
Local sources told EFE that the place that was attacked in the Gaza Strip this Saturday is a complex that houses three schools of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza City. The Israeli target was the third school called Al Zaytoon C, south of the Gazan capital.
In total, over the past 72 hours, 119 Palestinians have died and more than 200 have been injured, according to data revealed this Saturday by the Gaza Strip Health Department, which amounts to 41,391 dead and 95,760 injured since October 7.
“Give me a bedspread so we can put the children’s bodies and their remains on it,” a rescuer says in one of the videos released by the Civil Defense shortly after the attack.
According to a military statement, the Israeli army carried out “a precise attack” against Hamas militants who were planning attacks inside the school, which has now been transformed into “Hamas’ command and control center in Gaza City.”
“Prior to the attack, numerous measures were taken to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence,” the text added.
Israel regularly bombs schools where displaced people are sheltering, saying they also serve as hiding places for Hamas militants. Since October, more than 500 educational centers have been attacked in the devastated Palestinian enclave.
Israel attacks aid truck in Gaza
On Saturday, the Israeli army also confirmed that it had attacked a truck carrying humanitarian aid in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip. Benjamin Netanyahu’s government claims that the convoy was going to be looted by armed men.
“Givati Brigade forces securing the humanitarian area in Rafah detected armed men looting a truck of humanitarian aid and ordered air force planes to attack them,” the military statement said.
In the drone video, in blurry black and white, men are seen moving around the trucks and a car pulling up in front of them, according to the military, with someone armed with an AK-47. The military authorized the shooting at the car “as long as the truck is not damaged,” the video says.
This afternoon, at least five employees of the Gaza Health Ministry were also killed in another Israeli attack in the Musabah area, also in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-controlled entity.
