AN ISRAELI air strike hit a school-turned-shelter in Gaza early on Saturday, killing at least 80 people and wounding nearly 50 others, Palestinian health authorities said.
It was the latest of what the UN human rights office called “systematic attacks on schools” by Israel, with at least 21 since July 4 leaving hundreds dead, including women and children.
“For many, schools are the last resort to find some shelter,” it said after Saturday’s attack.
The Israeli military admitted it targeted the Tabeen school in central Gaza City, claiming it hit a Hamas command centre in a mosque in its compound and killed 19 Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters.
Walls were blown out on the ground level of the large building. Concrete chunks and twisted metal lay on the blood-soaked floor. Bodies, some in bloodstained shrouds, were placed shoulder to shoulder in makeshift graves, making room for more.
Fadel Naeem, director of the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, told reporters that it received 70 bodies along with the body parts of at least 10 others. Gaza’s Health Ministry said that another 47 people were wounded.
“We received some of the most serious injuries we encountered during the war,” he said, with many wounded having limbs amputated and some with severe burns.
The strike hit without warning before sunrise as people prayed, according to witness Abu Anas.
“There were people praying, there were people washing and there were people upstairs sleeping, including children, women and old people,” he said, prayer beads in hand.
“The missile fell on them without warning. The first missile, and the second. We recovered them as body parts.”
Three missiles ripped through the building — the first floor housed the mosque and the second level had a school — where about 6,000 displaced people were taking shelter, said Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesperson for the Civil Defence first responders, who operate under the Hamas-run government.
Many of the casualties were women and children, he said.
The vast majority of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people have been displaced, often multiple times, in the besieged territory 25 miles long by about seven miles wide.
The Israeli military demanded people evacuate Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city, toay, including part of an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone.
The humanitarian zone has steadily shrunk during the war with the various evacuation orders. Hundreds of thousands of people have crammed into squalid tent camps with few public services or sought shelter in schools, though the United Nations says that hundreds of those have been directly hit or damaged.
Khan Younis suffered widespread destruction during an air and ground offensive earlier this year. Tens of thousands fled again last week after an evacuation order.
The new order came in leaflets dropped from the sky. As smoke rose on the horizon, hundreds of families carrying belongings in their arms left homes and shelters early on Sunday, seeking refuge.
“We don’t know where to go,” said Amal Abu Yahia, a mother of three, who had returned to Khan Younis in June to shelter in their severely damaged home.
It was the fourth displacement for the 42-year-old widow, whose husband was killed when an Israeli air strike hit their neighbours’ house in March.
She said that they went to Muwasi, a sprawling tent camp along the coast, but couldn't find space.
Ramadan Issa, a father of five in his fifties, fled Khan Younis with 17 members of his extended family, joining hundreds of people walking toward central Gaza.
“Every time we settle in one place and build tents for women and children, the occupation comes and bombs the area,” he said, referring to Israel.
“This situation is unbearable.”
Gaza's Health Ministry says the Palestinian death toll from the war is approaching 40,000. Aid groups have struggled to address the staggering humanitarian crisis, while international experts have warned of famine.
