At least 20 were reported killed, and the majority were children, in an Israeli bombing of a school in Gaza that was housing displaced civilians, rescue officials said. The pre-dawn bombardment of Fahmi al-Jarjawi school in Gaza City is amid rising Israeli military action against Hamas and increasing international condemnation.
Mahmud Bassal, Gaza civil defence agency spokesman, stated: ‘At least 20 martyrs’ were rushed to hospital after what he called a “horrific occupation massacre at the Fahmi al-Jarjawi school,” where hundreds had fled to. He further stated that 60 others were injured in the attack.
The Israeli forces confirmed the attack, explaining that it was focused on ‘senior terrorists who were operating in a Hamas and Islamic Jihad command and control center buried in a facility that had once been the location of the ‘Faami Aljerjawi’ School in the Gaza City vicinity’. The release went on to say that ‘several measures were taken to reduce the danger to civilians’.
The latest violence follows nearly three months of tight restrictions on humanitarian aid entering Gaza, which have fueled a worsening hunger and health crisis. Though Israel recently relaxed its blockade, imposed on March 2, critics say the aid flow remains insufficient.
COGAT, a unit of Israel’s defense ministry that oversees civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, stated Friday that ‘107 trucks owned by the UN and the international community filled with humanitarian assistance. were transferred’ into Gaza. But aid agencies allege much more is required to cover these needs, and that some trucks have been stolen along with their cargo.
The World Food Programme called on Israel “to deliver much higher levels of food aid more quickly into Gaza,” and warned that “hunger, desperation and uncertainty about whether additional food aid is arriving is fueling increasing insecurity.”
On the ground, Gaza rescuers were still plagued by resource shortages. Bassal said that the civil defence agency does not have ‘search equipment or heavy equipment to lift the rubble to rescue the wounded and recover the martyrs’. Seven were killed over the weekend under rubble in Jabalia, and two others, a pregnant woman among them were killed when an airstrike hit tents near Nuseirat. The doctors could not save the unborn child.
Elsewhere, fatal strikes were reported at Deir el-Balah, Beit Lahia, and Khan Yunis. On Saturday, the civil defence agency reported nine children of two married doctors killed in Khan Yunis. The Israeli army has stated it is checking that report.
Meanwhile, tensions are rising globally. At the weekend, global leaders met in Madrid denounced the violence that continues, labelling the war ‘inhumane’ and ‘senseless’. They also denounced the limited scope of resumed humanitarian assistance.
Adding to the confusion, Jake Wood, executive director of the US-funded Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), resigned on Sunday. Wood blamed the organization for not working according to ‘humanitarian principles’. The GHF aimed to deliver 300 million meals over its first 90 days, but conventional aid groups and the UN have so far declined to work with it, fearing its alleged connection with Israel.
At least 3,785 individuals have died in the territory since the truce fell apart on March 18, according to Gaza’s ministry of health. The total death toll from the war is now 53,939, the vast majority of them civilians.
The conflict began after Hamas launched an assault on Israel in October 2023, killing 1,218 people—mostly civilians—and taking 251 hostages. As of now, 57 hostages remain in Gaza, with Israel saying that 34 of them are believed to be dead.
