‘Children torn apart’ as Israel attacks Gaza school sheltering Palestinians

Israel has bombed a United Nations-run school sheltering displaced Palestinians, killing at least nine, officials and residents say.

The attack at Asma School in Gaza City’s Shati refugee camp also wounded several people, Gaza’s Civil Defence said on Sunday, as rescuers searched for more victims under the rubble.

Taher al-Rantisi said he “saw a plane destroying the building, which collapsed on top of the people” there, calling the attack “a massacre”.

The Palestinians sheltering at the school building included “innocent children and elderly” people, said Rantisi. When the strike hit, “all the people and children were torn apart”, he said.

The Civil Defence said six bodies had been identified, including one of a young girl.

The Israeli military said it was “looking” into the reported air attack, the latest such attack on displacement shelters across the Gaza Strip where the army says it is targeting Hamas fighters.

Paramedic Hussein Mohsen said the displaced Palestinians who had taken refuge at the UN school had come from Jabalia and other parts of north Gaza, where Israeli forces have laid a devastating siege for a fourth week.

“This is not the first time that the Israeli occupation has targeted schools,” Mohsen said.

In recent months, the Israeli forces have bombed several schools-turned-shelters, claiming Palestinian fighters were operating there. Israel has presented no evidence to back its claim.

In recent days, tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled Israel’s bombardment in northern areas of the besieged Gaza Strip. The Israeli military says it aims to prevent Hamas from regrouping there.

But Palestinians and rights groups say Israel is conducting a genocide in Gaza. Israeli forces have killed nearly 43,000 people as the assault on Gaza enters a second year.