Israel bombs Gaza school, killing 30 Palestinians as truce talks continue
Palestinians check a UN-school housing displaced people that was hit during Israeli bombardment in Nuseirat, in central Gaza, on 6 June 2024
Al Jazeera reports on 9 July 2024:
Israel’s military has ramped up attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing at least 77 Palestinians, including dozens sheltering at a school, in one of the deadliest days the enclave has endured in recent weeks.
The attacks on Tuesday came as Hamas warned that the stepped-up Israeli offensive could jeopardise mediated ceasefire talks, a new round of which is set to begin in the capital of Qatar, Doha.
In the town of Abbasan, east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, an Israeli air attack on the al-Awdah school killed at least 30 people and wounded 53, most of them women and children, according to Palestinian medics.
Exclusive footage from the school, obtained by Al Jazeera, shows young Palestinians playing football in the building’s yard as dozens of people watch on. Then, a loud explosion is heard, sending people running for cover.
A Palestinian boy told Al Jazeera he lost several relatives in the attack. “We were sitting and a missile fell and destroyed everything,” he said, sobbing. “I lost my uncle, my cousins and my relatives.” The Israeli military has said it was looking into the report.
Elsewhere in Gaza, Israeli forces also bombed the central Bureij camp, killing at least 17 people, 14 of whom were children. Israeli forces also raided a house in central Deir el-Balah, killing three more people.
Hamas described the attack on the al-Awda school an “extension of the war of extermination against our people by the Zionist terrorist government” and called on people in Arab and Muslim nations to escalate protests against the war.
Josep Borrell, the European Union’s top diplomat, also condemned the attack, saying in a post on X, “For how long are innocent civilians going to bear the brunt of this conflict?”