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In the face of condemnation from many countries, Israel insisted that the airstrike on the school killed 19 militants

2024-08-11

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[Text/Observer Network Chen Sijia] On August 10, local time, the Israeli Defense Forces attacked a school in the northern Gaza Strip, killing more than 100 people. However, in the face of strong condemnation from the international community, Israel insisted that the target of the Israeli army's attack was the "Hamas command post" and that the airstrike did not cause "significant damage" to the school.

According to a report by The Times of Israel on August 10, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that the Israeli army used three "precisionGuided bomb"Two "Hamas command posts" were hit, killing 19 "Hamas and Jihad militants." IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari also claimed that the casualty figures released by the Gaza government did not match the information the IDF had.

Hagari claimed that Hamas used the school building as a "military facility and command center" to store weapons and plan attacks, so the Israeli army carried out a "precision strike" on Hamas militants in the school. "According to our intelligence, there were no women and children there."

"Over the past few weeks, our intelligence services have been closely monitoring Hamas and Jihad military facilities, where about two dozen fighters were active," Haggari said. "After receiving intelligence that these fighters posed a threat, we took a number of measures in accordance with international humanitarian law to reduce the threat to civilians, including conducting aerial reconnaissance before the attack and choosing precision munitions to avoid civilian casualties."

He also said in the statement that "multiple intelligence" showed that Jihad military commander Ashraf Juda was "very likely" also in the school, but it was not clear whether Juda was killed in the attack.

On the 10th, the Israeli army launched an airstrike on a school in the Daraj neighborhood in the center of Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip. The school is a shelter for local displaced persons. When the attack occurred, local residents were praying in the school's prayer hall in the morning. The Gaza Strip Media Office said that the attack has killed more than 100 people and injured dozens of people.

Mahmoud Basar, a spokesman for the Gaza Strip Civil Defence, said about 350 families were taking shelter in the school and that both the upper floor of the building, which was used to house civilians, and the lower floor, which was used as a prayer place, were hit.

Witness Abu Anas told the Associated Press that most of the dead and wounded were women and children. "Some were praying, some were washing, some were sleeping, and the bomb fell on them without warning."

A woman named Um Ahmed told CNN that the prayer place was full of young people at the time of the incident, "they were blown to pieces." Another survivor also said that some of the dead were left with only broken limbs, making it difficult to identify them.

The Gaza Strip Media Office condemned the Israeli army for launching a "horrific massacre" on the 10th, saying that the attack was clearly a "crime of genocide and ethnic cleansing" against the Palestinian people. The statement said that the number of casualties was large and the medical team, civil defense team and rescue emergency team have not yet found the bodies of all the victims.

The statement pointed out that the Israeli occupying forces and the US government should bear full responsibility for this "massacre" and called on the international community and international organizations to condemn the act and put pressure on Israel to stop the genocide and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip so that the Gaza Strip would no longer be "a river of blood."

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (Jihad) also said in a statement on the same day that the Israeli army's actions were "an outright war crime" and that the Israeli army's false excuse for bombing the school was exactly the same as the excuse for bombing the hospital in the past.

Al Jazeera noted that at least four schools in northern Gaza have been attacked since last week, with the Israeli army claiming that Hamas uses these schools for military and combat purposes, but has never provided any evidence to support these claims.

Israel's airstrike on the school also drew strong condemnation from the international community. Egypt accused Israel of deliberately killing Palestinians and said it lacked the ability to endGaza WarQatar’s Foreign Ministry called for an urgent investigation, including sending independent UN investigators, to establish the facts of Israel’s attacks on schools and shelters.

A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry said the attack was irrefutable evidence of "genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity" and called on Islamic countries to take broad action to support Palestinian resistance. The Turkish Foreign Ministry also accused Israel of committing "new crimes against humanity," saying the attack showed that the Israeli government wanted to "undermine ceasefire negotiations."

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, criticized Israel for committing "genocide" during the war. "Israel is committing genocide against Palestine, exterminating one community, one hospital, one school, one refugee camp, one security zone at a time."

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said: "A school used for shelter in Gaza was attacked by Israel and dozens of Palestinians were reportedly killed. At least 10 schools have been targeted in the past few weeks. These massacres cannot be justified."

The White House said the US was "closely monitoring" the Israeli airstrike on the school and was in contact with Israel to seek more information. US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Harris said the attack had caused too many civilian casualties and once again called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

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