In a devastating blow to an already battered Gaza, an Israeli airstrike on the Abu Hussein school in Gaza City’s Jabaliya neighborhood has claimed the lives of at least 28 people, as reported by health officials. The victims include several children and doctors, with dozens more injured in the attack. The school had been converted into a shelter amid the ongoing Israeli offensive in the area.
The bombing, which caused a massive fire at the school, has left the local population reeling. “There is no water to extinguish the fire. There is nothing. This is a massacre,” lamented medic Medhat Abbas, highlighting the dire situation on the ground. “Civilians and children are being killed, burned under fire.”
Israel Accused of Targeting Civilians
The Israeli military has claimed that the strike targeted militants from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operating from within the school, alleging that dozens of fighters were present at the time of the attack. However, Hamas has vehemently denied these accusations, insisting that no militants were using the school as a base.
The attack on the Jabaliya school comes amidst growing accusations that Israel intends to forcibly expel the remaining population in a renewed ground campaign. The entirety of northern Gaza is currently under Israeli evacuation orders, with an estimated 400,000 people trapped by the fighting and facing dwindling humanitarian supplies.
Humanitarian Crisis Deepens
The situation in Gaza has been deteriorating rapidly, with Israel allowing only limited aid to enter the besieged enclave. After a warning from the US that Israel must allow more aid to reach Gaza or face a cut in military support, Israel permitted 50 lorries carrying food, water, and medical equipment to enter northern Gaza on Wednesday. However, this is far from sufficient to address the growing humanitarian crisis.
“We have written our death notes, and we are not leaving Jabaliya. The occupation [Israel] is punishing us for not leaving our houses in the early days of the war, and we are not going now either. They are blowing up houses, and roads, and are starving us but we die once and we don’t lose our pride.”
– A Jabaliya resident and father of four
Calls for International Intervention
Several Israeli-Palestinian rights groups, including B’Tselem, Gisha, Yesh Din, and Physicians for Human Rights, have called on the international community to prevent Israel from carrying out what they describe as a “starve or surrender” strategy for Gaza City, warning that it could amount to war crimes. The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, has also cautioned Israel that any “large-scale forcible transfer” of civilians out of conflict-wracked north Gaza could constitute a war crime if not done on “imperative military grounds”.
As the death toll mounts and the humanitarian crisis deepens, the international community faces increasing pressure to intervene and protect the civilian population of Gaza. The world watches anxiously as the tragedy unfolds, hoping for a swift resolution to the conflict and an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people.
