A U.N. official said Saturday that two schools run by his agency in northern Gaza were bombed in less than 24 hours, and a video from one of the crime scenes confirmed by The New York Times showed many bloodied and motionless bodies at once.
Palestinian officials said Saturday that scores of people were killed and injured in an Israeli attack on a United Nations-run school that serves as a shelter for adults and children in the Jabaliya area north of Gaza City. The Israeli military said it had received reports of “an incident” in the Jabaliya area and it was being reviewed.
A graphic video, the location of which was confirmed by The Times, showed bodies lying amid rubble at Al-Fakhura school, run by UNRWA, the UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees.
The head of the agency, Philippe Lazzarini, said on social media On Saturday, he said he had received “horrifying images and footage of scores of people killed and injured” at a UNRWA school “accommodating thousands of displaced people in the north of the Gaza Strip.”
Mr. Lazzarini later added that another UNRWA school “was bombed several times in northern #Gaza, housing more than 4,000 people.” He said this was “the second time in less than 24 hours that schools have not been spared.” ENOUGH, these horrors must stop.”
A UNRWA spokeswoman said the later post referred to the Zeitoun School in Gaza City, which was hit around 3 p.m. on Friday.
The authority did not know Saturday what the final toll would be at either school; UNRWA has been unable to directly monitor conditions at its facilities in the northern Gaza Strip since an Israeli evacuation order for the north on October 12. At that time, nearly 160,000 displaced people sought refuge in 57 of its schools, it said. Since the beginning of the Israeli offensive, classes have been interrupted throughout the Gaza Strip and schools have been converted into emergency shelters.
The Israeli military says its intense bombings have been aimed at Hamas, the group that controls Gaza, but its command posts and depots are entangled deep in – and in tunnels under – Gaza’s neighborhoods. Israel’s bombing has hit places such as homes, mosques and markets, and Israeli officials have described these sites as legitimate targets and said they want to limit damage to civilians.
The Israeli military said Saturday it was “committed to international law, including taking possible steps to minimize harm to civilians.” It had said Earlier in the day there had been intense fighting in Jabaliya, where Hamas said the command and control center of the northern Gaza brigade was located.
The White House has spoken to U.N. and Israeli officials to find out more about the attack on a school shelter, said Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council.
“We are aware of reports that civilians may have been killed while hosting at least one UNRWA school in northern Gaza,” Ms Watson said. “Any damage to a UN facility where civilians seek refuge is unacceptable.”
The civilian casualties of Israel’s campaign in Gaza have drawn increasing criticism from U.N. officials, who have called for an urgent ceasefire, as well as growing anger from Israel’s Middle Eastern neighbors. The Qatari Foreign Ministry condemned the destruction of Al-Fakhura School on Saturday. accuse Israel condemns a “flagrant violation of the principles of international law” and calls for a UN investigation into attacks on hospitals and schools in Gaza.
“The Ministry warns that the silence of the international community on the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the occupation against the Palestinian people will increase tensions, widen the circle of violence and lead to further escalation and instability,” it was said.
The Gaza Health Ministry said that Al-Fakhura School was hit by an Israeli airstrike in early November, killing 15 people and wounding 70.
Aaron Boxerman, Neil Collier, Iyad Abuheweila, Aric Toler and Lisa Friedman contributed reporting.