Israeli Airstrike on Gaza School Shelter Results in Dozens of Fatalities

An Israeli airstrike targeting a school in Gaza City, which was sheltering displaced Palestinians, has resulted in the deaths of dozens of people, according to Hamas-run authorities in the territory. The incident occurred at al-Taba’een school, which was reportedly serving as a shelter for over 1,000 individuals, including many who had recently fled from the town of Beit Hanoun following evacuation orders from the Israeli army.

The health ministry’s ambulance service, quoted by the Associated Press, reported that more than 60 people were killed and 47 injured. Earlier reports from the Gaza civil defence agency suggested a higher death toll of at least 90. Esbecgroup has not been able to independently verify these figures.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) asserted that the school was being used as an active military facility by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, with approximately 20 militants operating from the site. In a statement, IDF spokesman Lt Col Nadav Shoshani claimed that the strike precisely targeted Hamas terrorists within a command and control centre embedded in the school.

Jaafar Taha, a student living near the school, described the aftermath of the strike to Esbecgroup. “The sound of the bombing was followed by screaming and noise. ‘Save us, save us,’ they were screaming. The scene was horrific. There were body parts everywhere and blood covering the walls.”

Salim Oweis, spokesman for the UN children’s agency, Unicef, condemned the attack, stating, “All those schools are really packed with civilians, children, mothers, and families, who are taking refuge in any empty space whether it’s a school or it’s a mosque, whatever it is, even in hospital yards.

Hamas denounced the attack as a “horrific crime and a dangerous escalation” in Israel’s “war of extermination against the Palestinian people.” Fatah, Hamas’s political rival in the West Bank, accused Israel of aiming to “exterminate Palestinians through a policy of cumulative killing.”

The reported casualty figures for Saturday’s early-morning attack are higher than in most similar strikes. Targeting school buildings has become a recurring feature of IDF operations in recent weeks, as part of an ongoing effort to dismantle Hamas military infrastructure. Since the beginning of July, more than a dozen schools have been hit, according to unofficial tallies, including four in four days at one point.

The UN has strongly condemned these strikes, as many of the schools were run by the UN before the war and have been serving as shelters for displaced Gazans. It is unclear if this incident will impact ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire deal, which were set back by the assassination of the Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran.

Egypt, one of the mediators involved in ceasefire negotiations, criticized Israel’s “deliberate killing” of unarmed Palestinians, stating that it showed a lack of political will to end the war. Jordan described the incident as “an indication of the Israeli government’s efforts to obstruct and thwart these efforts.”

The current conflict was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people and the abduction of 251 others to Gaza. The Israeli military offensive on Gaza has since led to the deaths of over 39,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.