CAIRO: A Hamas spokesman reported that 40 people, including women and children, were killed when they sought refuge at the UN facility when Israel struck a Gaza school on Thursday, describing the strike as a targeted airstrike on up to 30 Hamas fighters inside.
Following the attack, which occurred during delicate negotiations for a truce that would see the release of Hamas inmates and other Palestinians detained in Israeli jails, video footage showed Palestinians carrying away bodies.
Following eight months of fighting in the Gaza Strip, the United States and other nations called on Israel and Hamas to make whatever concessions were required to reach a settlement in a joint statement released on Thursday.
The head of the government media office controlled by Hamas, Ismail Al-Thawabta, denied Israel’s claim that a Hamas command station was concealed in the UN school located in Nuseirat, central Gaza.
Thawabta told Reuters that “the occupation uses… false fabricated stories to justify the brutal crime it conducted against dozens of displaced people.”
The Israeli military released satellite images showing two sections of a building where it said the fighters were stationed and claimed that its fighter jets had conducted a “precise strike.” According to military spokesman Lt Col Peter Lerner, “We’re very confident in the intelligence.” Fighters from Islamic Jihad and Hamas are allegedly utilizing UN buildings as operating bases on purpose.
He stated that there were 20–30 fighters inside the facility, many of whom had been killed. However, he would not provide specifics because intelligence assessments were still being conducted.
Rockets were heard when survivors like Huda Abu Dhaher woke up at the school and began clearing debris from bloodstained classrooms. “Both within and outside the yard, there were scattered remains of people. “The gas canister burst,” the source informed Reuters.
“My nephew, who was ten years old, was slain by martyrdom; he lost both his arms and legs. This woman’s son bled from his mouth and leg, her mother-in-law was injured three times, and her leg had a shard in it.
6,000 displaced individuals were being housed at the school, which is operated by the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), according to UNRWA president Philippe Lazzarini.
He posted on X, saying, “At least 35 people were killed and many more injured.”
The allegations that there may have been armed gangs within the shelter are startling. However, we are unable to confirm these assertions. It is plainly illegal to attack, target, or use UN premises for armed action in violation of international humanitarian law.
Thirteen women and nine children were among the forty confirmed dead, according to Thawabta and a medical source.
efforts to maintain a ceasefire
Israel, which is fighting militants who use hit-and-run strategies, declared a fresh military offensive in central Gaza on Wednesday. It states that hostilities won’t stop during the cease-fire negotiations, which have gotten more intense since US President Joe Biden presented a plan.
According to a statement released by the White House in collaboration with Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Britain, Canada, and others, “at this crucial moment, we call on the leaders of Israel as well as Hamas to make whatever final compromises are necessary to close this deal.”
Hamas wants the fighting to end permanently. According to Israel, it must first annihilate the group.
On Wednesday in Doha, senior representatives from Qatar and Egypt, the mediators, met with CIA director William Burns to go over the proposal for a truce. According to two security sources in Egypt, negotiations carried on on Thursday but produced no results.
Over the past few months, Biden has said on multiple occasions that ceasefires were imminent; however, there has only been one week-long truce, in November.
