Israel faced international condemnation yesterday after a strike killed 18 people on Wednesday at a school-turned-shelter for displaced Palestinians in war-torn Gaza.
The attack flattened part of the UN-run Al-Jawni school in Nuseirat, leaving only a charred heap of rebar and concrete.
“For the fifth time, Israeli forces bombed the UNRWA-run Al-Jawni School, killing 18 citizens,” Gaza civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal wrote on Telegram, referring to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
UNRWA later said six of its staff had been killed in two Israeli strikes on the school and its surroundings, calling it the highest death toll among its team in a single incident.
“Among those killed was the manager of the UNRWA shelter and other team members providing assistance to displaced people,” it said on X. “Schools and other civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times, they are not a target.”
UN chief Antonio Guterres branded the strike “totally unacceptable”. His spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that women and children were also among the 18 dead.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he was “outraged” by the deaths and that the strikes showed a “disregard of the basic principles” of international humanitarian law.
