ISRAEL today attacked a UN school in Gaza that it claims is home to a Hamas base, allegedly killing terrorists involved in the October 7 attack.
Hamas-run media in the war-torn Strip said the blitz killed at least 39 Palestinians who had sought shelter at the school.
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Local health officials said five children were also killed, Sky reports.
The IDF said it “eliminated” several militants when attacking the alleged “Hamas compound.”
Israeli fighter jets hit the top floor of the school run by a United Nations agency that provides aid to Palestinians in Gaza, UNRWA.
This comes after Israel accused UNRWA officials of being involved in the October 7 massacre.
The Hamas-run media office said Israel committed a “horrible massacre” following the blitz – which targeted the Nuseirat refugee camp in the center of the Strip.
Principal Ismail Al-Thawabta said the school was not hiding a Hamas command post.
He claimed that reports about a Hamas compound coming from Israel were used to “justify the brutal crime it carried out against dozens of displaced people.”
Horrifying images showed the bombed-out school with classrooms reduced to rubble as people in UN vests searched through the wreckage.
And chilling images taken from the ground showed Palestinians mourning those killed in the attack, lying in body bags on the ground.
The exact death toll is still unclear.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah said it had received the bodies of “at least 37 martyrs” after the attack.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health told CNN that 45 people had been killed.
The IDF has not yet provided any evidence to suggest that the school was used as a Hamas base.
After Israel claimed that UNRWA personnel were involved in the massacre of 1,200 Israelis last October, the UN began investigating.
David Bedein of Israel’s Middle East Policy Center said aid agency personnel were “involved in real killings – wielding weapons and killing people.”
Twelve Gaza-based employees were then fired, but Bedein said they were just the “tip of the iceberg”.
In late April, UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said that several of the 12 cases involving 12 officials had been closed due to a lack of evidence from Israel.
The UN-funded agency was created to boost Palestinian education, health care, social services and living standards.
The Israeli military confirmed the attack this morning on X, writing: “Eliminated: several Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who infiltrated a UNRWA school.
“IAF fighter jets conducted a precision strike on a Hamas compound embedded in the school in the Nuseirat area.
“These terrorists belonged to the Nukhba Forces and participated in the October 7 massacre.
“Prior to the attack, a number of measures were taken to reduce the risk of harm to civilians not involved during the attack, including conducting aerial surveillance and providing additional intelligence.”
The Israeli military estimates that between 20 and 30 Hamas militants were inside the school when it was hit, The Times of Israel reports.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
