15 killed in Gaza school as Israel ignores UN plea
Print Edition
UNITED Nations officials told the Israeli military 17 times that a school in Gaza’s biggest refugee camp was a shelter for Palestinian civilians fleeing fighting in the teeming coastal strip, but it was not enough to save them from deadly shelling.
Blown to pieces as they huddled asleep on mattresses on classroom floors, at least 15 men, women and children were killed and more than 100 wounded when Israeli artillery fire struck Jabalya Girls Elementary School yesterday, UN officials said.
The victims had fled from other battle zones hoping they would be safe under the blue-and-white UN flag.
Abdel-Karim al-Masamha, 27, said he and his family went to the school after fleeing fighting near their home in the northern Gaza Strip.
“We didn’t find safety here,” he said. “People were martyred before our eyes. They were dismembered.”
The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 15 people were killed at the school, where survivors gathered pieces of flesh for burial. The head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency said it was premature to issue an official death toll.
The Israeli army said militants near the building had fired mortar bombs and Israeli forces had shot back. “We’re still reviewing the incident,” a military spokeswoman said.
But UNRWA chief Pierre Krahenbuhl said the agency had given the school’s precise location to the Israeli military 17 times, with the last notification made just hours before the shelling.
“I condemn in the strongest possible terms this serious violation of international law by Israeli forces,” he said.
Jabalya, which has been under Israeli fire for the past 24 hours, is the largest refugee camp in Gaza. Its population of 120,000 has been swollen by Palestinians trying to escape the 23-day-old conflict.
“There is no safety at all, no place is safe,” said Haleema Ghabin, holding her infant son at the school. “What shall I say to the world? Find us a solution, we are defenseless civilians and children.”
Khalil al-Halabi, director of UNRWA’s northern Gaza operations, said about 3,000 Palestinians were in the school when it came under fire.
“There were five shells — Israeli tank shells — which struck the people and killed many of them as they slept. Those people came to the school because it is a designated UN shelter,” he said.
Israel said Hamas, the dominant movement in Gaza, ultimately bears responsibility for deaths because its fighters operate in residential areas and use non-combatants as human shields.
UNRWA said it was at “breaking point” with more than 200,000 Palestinians sheltering in its buildings.
Last Thursday, 15 Palestinians were killed and 200 injured in a strike on a UN school in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, crowded with hundreds of displaced civilians.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned that attack and said he was appalled by the bombardment of a UN-designated shelter. The Israeli military said militants had fired from the vicinity of the school in Beit Hanoun and soldiers shot back.
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