EXCLUSIVE
The Israeli attack on the school in Gaza City that killed more than 100 displaced Palestinians was ‘calculated’ to cause widespread loss of life, Al Jazeera probe finds.
Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification agency has probed the details of Israel’s Saturday morning attack on Gaza City’s al-Tabin School, which killed more than 100 people, including women and children.
The investigation determined the attack was “deliberately timed to cause maximum casualties”, with a “large number of displaced people deliberately targeted,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.
To reach its findings, Sanad examined survivors’ testimonies, photos of the remnants of bombs used in the attack, images showing how the bombs penetrated the ceilings of the mosque attached to the school, and documentation of the explosion’s immediate aftermath.
Based on the evidence, Sanad said Israel’s military fired the two guided missiles used in the attack to coincide with dawn prayers.
The missiles “penetrated the mosque’s roof, passed through the first floor, where the women’s chapel is located, and exploded on the ground floor, where the men’s chapel is situated”, Sanad said in its report.
The agency added that fragments of at least two shells used in this targeting were of the American GBU-39 SDB type, confirmed by weapons expert Trevor Ball. These type of shells are manufactured and exported to the Israeli army by the American company, Boeing.
Regarding the location and time of impact of the two guided missiles, Sanad said, “It is clear that the choice was not random.”
“The southern missile landed at the beginning of the chapel area as prayer was beginning, while the northern missile landed in the sleeping area and near the ablutions and bathrooms where the displaced people were preparing for prayer,” the agency said.
Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked schools used as shelters in Gaza, claiming they are command centres for Hamas, the Palestinian group that governs the territory, to hide fighters and manufacture weapons. At least five such attacks have been reported this month.
Sanad challenged the Israeli military’s claims that the al-Tabin School attack targeted Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters it said were in the men’s prayer hall at the time.
The Al Jazeera agency pointed out that the attacks occurred during prayer time in a mosque serving displaced civilians.
It also cited photos and survivor testimonies showing that, contrary to the Israeli military’s claims, fire broke out in areas outside the floor Israel said it had exclusively targeted, killing and maiming civilians.
“The evidence strongly suggests a deliberate and calculated attack aimed at causing widespread loss of life,” Sanad said.
The attack has led to renewed calls for the United States to stop providing staunch support for Israel, including weapons transfers that rights advocates say are fuelling atrocities in the Palestinian enclave.
The school “massacre” also came amid fears of the Gaza war escalating into a regional conflict following the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.
Haniyeh’s killing came hours after another Israeli strike in Beirut killed a senior Hezbollah commander of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group in Lebanon.
Iran and its allies have blamed Israel for the killings and have promised revenge.