Israeli forces have hit a school-turned-shelter housing refugees in northern Gaza, killing at least seven people in yet another attack targeting schools, according to a spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defence.The Kafr Qasim School in the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, which was sheltering hundreds of displaced people, was targeted by an Israeli air strike, Mahmud Bassal said on Sunday.
Among the wounded were “serious cases”, he added.
The attack on the school comes a day after 22 people, including 13 children and six women, were killed by yet another Israeli air strike on a school sheltering war-displaced people in northern Gaza City.
The Israeli army claimed it targeted Hamas fighters present in the compound but provided no proof of its claims.
The military said it took measures to reduce the risk of harming “those not involved” such as using precision weaponry and intelligence information. The statement did not provide details about deaths.
Israel has repeatedly targeted schools and other civilian infrastructure claiming it was being used by Hamas fighters, but it has rarely provided proof of its claims.
Israel has long been accused of not taking adequate steps to reduce the civilian death toll in the Strip, from using 2,000-pound (900 kg) bombs in densely populated areas and striking entire residential buildings to attacking tents in so-called “humanitarian safe zones” where civilians fleeing fighting are supposed to find a refuge.
Campaigners say Israel has flagrantly violated international laws governing wars and has made little distinction between civilians and armed fighters. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has sought arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes. The Hague-based court has also sought a warrant against two Hamas leaders.
Seven other Palestinians were killed in separate air strikes in central and southern parts of Gaza, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said, according to the Wafa news agency. Two more people were killed in Khuza’a east of Khan Younis after being targeted with artillery shells. Another Palestinian was killed when an Israeli quadcopter opened fire on civilians west of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
‘We want war to end’
Meanwhile, for those who survive, life conditions keep deteriorating. Footage and images from the south of the enclave show dilapidated tents and makeshift shelters flooded by rainwaters overnight.
“Ten minutes of rain were enough to sink the tents. What if it rained all day? Tents are already worn out and can’t stand winter,” Aya, displaced with her family in the central city of Deir el-Balah, told the Reuters news agency. “We don’t want new tents. We want the war to end. We don’t want temporary solutions in hell,” the 30-year-old added.
To add to the misery, Gaza’s Health Ministry warned that electricity generators in all health facilities across the enclave could be forced to stop operating within 10 days due to a lack of oil, filters and spare parts.
It said in a statement posted on Telegram that this poses a great danger to the lives of patients at the facilities, especially in sensitive departments such as operations, intensive care and nurseries.
The ministry appealed to “all concerned international and humanitarian institutions to intervene quickly” to keep the generators operating.
More shelters and supplies to help people cope with the coming winter are needed, Juliette Touma, Director of Communications of the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, said.
“With rain and temperatures dropping, people are likely to fall ill, especially children who are most vulnerable to colds and flu,” Touma said.
Most of the 2.4 million Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced since Israel launched war on the Strip on October 7. The Israeli military offensive came after Hamas and Palestinian factions carried out an attack inside Israel, which led to more than 1,100 civilian deaths and about 250 taken captive.
Israeli forces have killed more than 41,000 Palestinians and reduced large swaths of the besieged enclave to rubble in the past 11 months of nonstop bombardment.