Gaza: At Least 15 Killed by Israel’s Attacks on Two Schools

Palestinian Cities in Ruins, Aug, 2024 Photo: EFE

August 8, 2024 Hour: 7:34 pm

Gaza Civil Defence reported that the deaths in both schools were children and women.

Gaza Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal said on Thursday that at least 15 people were killed in an Israeli bombing of the Abdul Fattah Hamud and Al Zahraa schools in Gaza.

“15 martyrs and serious injuries as a result of the Israeli bombing of the Abdul Fattah Hamoud and Al-Zahraa schools in Gaza City,” the agency said in an update on the current situation on the ground in the Gaza Strip on the 307th day of the war.

According to the Civil Defence, “Air Force fighter planes have recently attacked selectively under the direction of the intelligence of the Shin Bet and Southern Command, control and command complexes” of Hamas located near schools.

The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that the victims, including those with serious injuries, were taken to the Arab Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza.

“A woman who took refuge in Al Mawasi said to us: ‘They told me to move to Rafah, then they told me it was no longer safe so I moved to Mawasi and here I am, my son was killed and my daughter is paralyzed.’ No place is safe in Gaza” @JulietteTouma @RTE https://t.co/Mn6fHr5a4o pic.twitter.com/uqFmEclaRB
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 8, 2024

Gaza schools are usually used to house refugees, but they have become key targets of Israeli attacks. In this regard, the spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Defence told Arab television channel Al Jazeera that by attacking schools housing displaced people, Israel wants to convey the message that there is no safe place in Gaza.

Mahmoud Basal detailed that the dead in both schools were children and women and there were no Hamas fighters, as Israel said in a statement released after the bombing, where he also stressed that “before the attack, numerous measures were taken to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians, including the use of precision ammunition, vigilance and additional intelligence”.

According to the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA), almost 85 percent of schools in the Gaza Strip have been damaged and many need to be completely repaired.

Since 7 October, 39,699 Palestinian deaths have been recorded, mostly children and women; while 91,722 injuries have been reported. Thousands of victims still lie under the rubble.