Israel-Hamas war: Israeli strike on Gaza school kills dozens

A spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has condemned an Israeli strike that hit a school in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza.

At least 35 people were killed in the strike, according to local health officials.

The Israeli military said it carried out a "precision" operation against Hamas militants that it claimed were inside the school.

UNRWA senior communications manager Jonathan Fowler told DW that "we have absolutely no way of verifying such claims."

The school is run by the UN agency.

"What we have said is that attacking, targeting or using UN buildings [for] any kind of military purposes is a blatant disregard of international humanitarian law. International humanitarian law applies to all parties in all conflicts, including this one," he said.

Schools in Gaza have become shelters for internally displaced people since the start of the Israeli military offensive in October 2023.

Nevertheless, Fowler said UNRWA has protocols in place to ensure that no soldiers or militants use its facilities.

"UN staff, premises and operations have to be protected at all times. That's the end of the story," he said.

"But the primary thing is, we're talking about the shelter which was sheltering 6,000 displaced people when it was hit. And I really think that that's what we need to focus on right now."

Fowler also said that Israeli authorities were made aware that the building was a UNRWA-run facility.

"The coordinates of all of our facilities in the Gaza Strip are shared with all parties, including the Israeli authorities," he said. "There's no mystery about what is a UN facility or what's not a UN facility."

The US State Department sanctioned the Palestinian militant group Lions' Den on Thursday after a series of violent incidents over the past two years.

Lions' Den is based in the city of Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The group has been accused of being behind several violent attacks on Israeli settlements and clashes with Israeli and Palestinian security forces.

"The United States condemns any and all acts of violence committed in the West Bank, whoever the perpetrators," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.

He said the US would "use the tools at our disposal to expose and hold accountable those who threaten peace and stability there."

It is the first time a Palestinian group has been sanctioned under an executive order on West Bank violence issued by US President Joe Biden back in February, which had previously been used to sanction Jewish settlers involved in attacks on Palestinians.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has urged for an independent investigation into an Israeli strike that hit a school operated by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA)in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

"This appalling news must be independently investigated," the EU's top diplomat said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

He pointed to an order by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) according to which Israel must prevent the destruction of potential evidence for investigations into Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip as well as ensure the passage of aid into the Palestinian territory.

Borrell called for an "enduring cease-fire" between Israel and the Hamas militant Islamist group, saying it was "the only way forward to protect civilians and get to the immediate release of all hostages."

Hamas took over 200 hostages during its attack on southern Israel on October 7, in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed. Around 80 hostages are believed to still be alive in Hamas captivity.

"Both parties must agree on the US three-phase plan now," Borrell said, referring to a cease-fire and hostage release deal proposed by US President Joe Biden last week.

Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris met with the Palestinian ambassador to Ireland, Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid, for the first time at Dublin's Government Buildings.

It is the first time the Taioseach, as Ireland's head of government is officially known, has formally received a Palestinian envoy.

Last month, Dublin recognized Palestinian statehood alongside Spain and Norway. The move was met with condemnation from Israeli officials.

"Dr. Abdalmajid thanked the Taoiseach and the Irish people and said that recognition … was a source of strength, hope and light on a path to peace for the people of Palestine that put her country on a different level in the world's perception," the Irish prime minister's office said in a statement.

"Ireland's foreign policy was always guided by international law and human rights, and we saw the imperative for a two-state solution."

According to the statement, he went on to condemn the Hamas militant Islamist group that attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 Israelis and taking more than 200 hostage.

Abdalmajid belongs to the Palestinian National Authority based in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

The Taoiseach said Ireland would work with Arab and European partners towards "concrete steps to implement the two-state solution" in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Egypt has received encouraging signals from the Hamas militant group over a potential cease-fire and hostage release deal with Israel, said Al-Qahera News, an Egyptian state-linked broadcaster, citing a "high-level source."

Egypt has worked alongside Qatar and the US as a mediator in negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

"Hamas leaders have informed us that they are studying the truce proposal seriously and positively," Al-Qahera quoted the source as saying.

It said that Hamas is expected to respond to the proposal in the coming days.

The proposal was announced last week by US President Joe Biden, who outlined three phases that could ultimately lead to a permanent cessation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip.

On Thursday, Biden and several other world leaders urged Hamas to accept the proposal.

The head of the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, accused Israel of bombing a Gaza school "without prior warning."

"Another UNRWA school turned shelter attacked," Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Lazzarini said that 6,000 displaced people were sheltering at the school when it was hit.

"Attacking, targeting or using UN buildings for military purposes are a blatant disregard of International Humanitarian law," he said.

He added that the agency "shares the coordinates of all its facilities (including this school) with the Israeli army and other parties in the conflict."

"Targeting UN premises or using them for military purposes cannot become the new norm," he said.

Israel's military said it had killed several militants in a "precision strike on a Hamas compound embedded inside a UNRWA school" in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

It said that militants killed in the strike had participated in Hamas' October 7 terror attack in which 1,200 people were killed and over 240 were taken to the Gaza Strip as hostages.

Israel has in the past claimed that UNRWA staff members belong to Palestinian militant groups. An independent review in April found no proof of the allegations.

Israeli rights group B'Tselem called the strike a "suspected war crime" in a statement published to X.

"If, as Israel claims, Hamas used the school to plan military operations, this action is illegal, but it cannot justify the massive harm to civilians who sought shelter in the school from the horror of prolonged fighting."

"As demonstrated throughout the war, the killing of civilians is an unavoidable result of the character of Israel's military activity in the Gaza Strip," the group said.

Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the US, the EU and others.

The United States, Germany and 15 other countries have called on Hamas to accept a proposal announced by US President Joe Biden for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, according to a joint statement.

"There is no time to lose. We call on Hamas to close this agreement, that Israel is ready to move forward with, and begin the process of releasing our citizens," the statement said.

The countries signing the statement noted that this agreement would lead to an immediate cease-fire and rehabilitation of Gaza, along with security assurances for Israelis and Palestinians, as well as opportunities for a more durable long-term peace and a two-state solution.

"At this decisive moment, we call on the leaders of Israel as well as Hamas to make whatever final compromises are necessary to close this deal," the statement said.

The statement came from the leaders of the US, Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Britain, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain and Thailand, according to the White House.

Three individuals have been killed near the security fence separating southern Gaza from Israel, the Israeli military said Thursday.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a Telegram post that "several suspects [...] approached the border from the Gaza Strip and moved toward Israel in an attempt to cross the security area in the area of Rafah." 

According to the post, the IDF troops "engaged the terrorists who opened fire at them. The troops then returned fire at the terrorists."

The IDF said two people were killed by aircraft fire, while the third was killed by a tank.

The announcement could not be independently verified, nor could the identity of those killed be confirmed.

Spain will ask to join South Africa's genocide case at the International Court of Justice against Israel's actions in Gaza, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said Thursday.

Spain is the second European nation after Ireland to join the case on South Africa's side, which has also been backed by countries including Chile and Mexico.

"We are doing it because of our commitment to international law, in our desire to support the court in its work and strengthen the United Nations, supporting the role of the court as the maximum legal entity in the system," Albares said in a press conference held in Madrid.

South Africa filed a complaint against Israel with the United Nations' highest court in late 2023, accusing the state of violating the Geneva Convention for its ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip.

In three rulings to date, the court has ordered Israel to take immediate measures to protect civilians. Israel has  denied accusations of genocide.

The Israeli military has said a soldier has been killed in the north of the country, where troops have been engaged in almost daily border clashes with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

The 39-year-old soldier "fell fighting in the north" on Wednesday, the military said in a statement, after two explosive drones were launched from Lebanon against the town of Hurfeish in northern Israel.

The man is one of at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians killed on the Israeli side of the border since clashes began in early October, according to the army.

This does not include the almost 1,200 people killed during the Hamas attacks on October 7, or the hostages who have died in captivity in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israel's offensive has killed more than 36,500 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.

Israeli politicians have threatened to fight even harder against Hezbollah, which last fought a major war with Israel in 2006.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel was "prepared for a very intense operation" along the border with Lebanon and that "one way or another, we will restore security to the north."

More than 35 people were killed in an Israeli strike that hit a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in central Gaza early on Thursday, local health officials have said. 

Witnesses and hospital officials said the pre-dawn strike hit the school in Nuseirat, which is run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). The school was housing Palestinians who had fled Israeli offensives and bombings in northern Gaza, they said.

UNRWA communications director Juliette Touma told the Reuters news agency that the number of people reported killed in the Israeli offensive on the Nuseirat school was between 35 and 45, but added that this figure could not yet be confirmed.

The Israeli military said Hamas militants were operating from inside the school, and added that it had "eliminated" several militants in a "precise strike on a Hamas compound embedded inside an UNRWA school in the area of Nuseirat."

The strike came after the military announced a new ground and air assault on several refugee camps in central Gaza in pursuit of Hamas militants it says have regrouped there. 

Thursday's strike is the latest instance of troops pushing back into parts of Gaza where they had previously conducted operations, underscoring the difficulty Israel faces in rooting out the militant group which has been designated a terror organization by the US, Israel and Germany, among other governments.

dh, sdi/ab, nm (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)