AT LEAST 10 Palestinians, including children, were killed by an Israeli attack in the early hours of today while they were sheltering at the Halimah al-Saadiyah school in Jabalia, northern Gaza.

Many more were injured in Israel’s latest bombardment of a shelter for displaced Palestinians.

The survivors of the brutal attack gave harrowing eyewitness accounts of the attacks to Qatar-based news outlet Al Jazeera.

Abu Haitham Khalla said: “I saw the whole area filled with dust — that’s when I realised the strike had hit this place.

“The panic, fear and terror that swept through the school was overwhelming. There were about 1,000 displaced people sheltering here.

“So far, 10 people have been confirmed killed in addition to many injuries, all of them women and children.”

Ahmed Khalla said: “Children were torn apart and charred. Women who had done absolutely nothing. The scenes were horrific.”

He added: I saw a little girl without a head — literally without a head.”

There was no immediate comment on the killings from the Israeli authorities.

In response to the killing of nine children and four women on Thursday as they lined up for food supplements in the city of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Philippe Lazzarini, posted on the X social media platform that Gaza has become “the graveyard” of children and starving people.”

He wrote: “No way out. Their choice is between two deaths: starvation or being shot at — the most cruel and Machiavellian scheme to kill, in total impunity.”

Meanwhile, the UN has hit back after the United States slapped sanctions on UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese on Thursday.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for secretary-general Antonio Guterres, branded the measure a dangerous precedent.

Member states are perfectly entitled to their views and to disagree with the reports by the special rapporteurs, Mr Dujarric said, “but we encourage them to engage with the UN human rights architecture,” adding: “The use of unilateral sanctions against special rapporteurs, or any other UN expert or official, is unacceptable.”

Washington announced the sanctions against Ms Albanese on Wednesday over her role in investigating alleged Israeli human rights violations against Palestinians. 

Ms Albanese said the US action against her was “not a sign of power, it’s a sign of guilt.”

She added: “We need to reverse the tide and in order for it to happen, we need to stand united.

“They cannot silence us all. They cannot kill us all. They cannot fire us all.”