GAZA CITY: Israel killed 18 people, including six UN staffers, when it bombed a school housing displaced Palestinians in central Gaza on Wednesday night.

The Al Jawni school in Nuseirat had already been bombed several times since the Gaza crisis unfolded on Oct 7.

The strike flattened part of the UN-run facility where Gazans had sought shelter, leaving only a charred heap of rebar and concrete.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) called it the highest death toll among its team in a single incident.

“Among those killed was the manager of the Unrwa shelter and other team members providing assistance to displaced people,” the UN agency posted on X.

“Schools and other civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times, they are not a target.”

Across the besieged strip, many school buildings have been repurposed to shelter displaced families as the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been repeatedly uprooted by the conflict.

Israeli forces have struck several such schools in recent months, alleging “Palestinian militants” were operating there and hiding among displaced civilians — charges denied by Hamas.

The Israeli military said in a statement on Thursday that it had conducted a “precise strike on a Hamas command and control centre” within the Al Jawni compound.

Survivors of the strike scrambled to retrieve bodies and belongings from the rubble, telling reporters they had to step over “shredded limbs”.

“I can hardly stand up,” said one man, holding a plastic bag of human remains.

“We’ve been going through hell for 340 days now, what we’ve seen over these days, we haven’t even seen it in Hollywood movies, now we’re seeing it in Gaza.”

‘Senseless killing’

Gaza has repeatedly been called the world’s deadliest place for humanitarian workers.

Unrwa head Philippe Lazzarini said after the school strike that 220 members of the agency’s staff had been killed in Gaza over the last 11 months.

“Endless & senseless killing, day after day,” he posted on X.

“Humanitarian staff, premises & operations have been blatantly & unabatedly disregarded since the beginning of the war.”

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres called what is happening in Gaza “totally unacceptable”.

In response, Israel’s ambassador to the UN accused Guterres of distorting reality.

Further north in the Gaza Strip, the civil defence agency’s spokesman said three people were killed overnight in Israeli shelling on the Jabalia refugee camp.

Copter crash

Israel’s military reported the deaths of two soldiers when a helicopter crashed in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah. Another eight soldiers were injured.

The aircraft had been on a “life-saving operation” to evacuate a wounded soldier when it crashed, Major General Tomer Bar said in a Wednesday statement.

The latest deaths bring the Israeli military’s losses in the Gaza campaign to 344 since its ground offensive began on Oct 27.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2024