IDF ordered Gaza mosque evacuation but hit nearby school instead, killing 32, residents say

he site of one of the areas attacked at the school in Al-Bureij in the central Gaza Strip on 7 May 2025

Nir Hasson and Rawan Suleiman report in Haaretz on 7 May 2025:

Thirty-two Palestinians, among them at least nine children and four women, were killed on Tuesday in two aerial attacks on a school that served as a displaced persons camp in central Gaza’s Al-Bureij, according to sources in Gaza.

The Israeli army claimed that the target of the attack was “a Hamas command and control area,” and that precautions were taken to prevent hitting civilians. The Palestinians say, however, that while the IDF issued a warning and an evacuation order, it was directed at a mosque near the school, which was not hit at all in the attack.

On Tuesday afternoon, a resident of Al-Bureij received a phone call ordering him to evacuate the area around the Al Rahman Mosque. Shortly thereafter, at about 6:00 P.M., the western side of the Abu Hamisa school was attacked. Like most schools in Gaza, it is currently being used as a shelter for families that have been uprooted from their homes during the course of the war.

Palestinian sources said that people who were present near the mosque entered the school upon receiving the warning, for fear of getting hit. Eighteen people were killed in the attack. Four hours later, the school was hit again, that time on its northern side. According to reports, another 14 people were killed. Among those killed in the two attacks were at least nine children under the age of 14.

Videos and photographs released on Wednesday show remains of children lying on the roof of a nearby building, parents carrying their wounded children, or bidding farewell to their dead children. Documentation from Al-Awda Hospital showed many children with various injuries.

Gaza’s Health Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas, announced Wednesday at 12:00 P.M. that during the previous 24 hours, 38 people were killed in the Gaza Strip and 145 were wounded. It reported that since the beginning of the war, 52,653 people have been killed, and 118,897 wounded. Shortly after, Arab networks reported an attack on a restaurant in Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood in which 15 people were killed.

The IDF spokesperson has not yet responded to the Palestinians’ claims that the school was hit, and has written: “The IDF and the Shin Bet security service attacked not long ago terrorists inside a Hamas command and control compound in the central Gaza Strip. The compound was used by terrorists to store arms, intended for the planning and implementation of acts of terrorism against citizens of the state of Israel and IDF troops.

“Prior to the attack, many precautions were taken to minimize the chances of harming civilians, including the use of precision weaponry, aerial imaging and other intelligence data. The terrorist organizations systematically violate international law through cruel exploitation of civilian institutions and of the populace as human shields for acts of terror. The IDF and the Shin Bet will continue to act with force and persistence against all the terror organizations in the Gaza Strip.”

The army has not released the names of the terrorists who were killed in the attack.

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