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Date: September 12, 2024 at 11:54:22
From: old timer, [DNS_Address]
Subject: UN says Israeli strike on Gaza school killed six of its staff |
URL: UN says Israeli strike on Gaza school killed six of its staff |
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your american tax dollars at work
UN says Israeli strike on Gaza school killed six of its staff
10 hours ago
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David Gritten
BBC News
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) says six of its employees
have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a school it runs in central Gaza.
Gaza's Hamas-run Civil Defence agency said a total of 18 people were
killed in Wednesday’s strike on al-Jaouni school in Nuseirat refugee camp,
which is being used as a shelter by thousands of displaced Palestinians.
Israel's military said it carried out a “precise strike on terrorists” planning
attacks from the school, and that it had taken measures to avoid harm to
civilians.
UN Secretary General António Guterres condemned the strike, saying:
“What’s happening in Gaza is totally unacceptable.”
“These dramatic violations of international humanitarian law need to stop
now,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Unrwa said the attack marked "the highest death toll among our staff in a
single incident" since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in
October.
It also noted that it was the fifth time the school had been hit over the
past 11 months.
In July, 16 people were reportedly killed in a strike which the Israeli
military said had targeted several structures at the school used by Hamas
fighters.
Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, hit out at Guterres'
criticism.
“It is unconscionable that the UN continues to condemn Israel in its just
war against terrorists, while Hamas continues to use women and children
as human shields,” he said.
Hamas - which is proscribed as a terrorist group by Israel, the UK and
other countries - has denied using schools and other civilian sites for
military purposes.
Israeli forces launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the
group's unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October, in which
about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken back to Gaza as
hostages.
More than 41,080 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to
the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
Video of the aftermath of Wednesday’s strike showed hundreds of people
inspecting the heavily damaged ground floor of one wing of al-Jaouni
school, as well as the remains of an adjoining structure that appeared to
have been destroyed.
Other footage showed ambulances bringing wounded men, women and
children said to have been wounded in the strike to al-Aqsa hospital in the
town of Deir al-Balah.
Survivors said they had to step over “shredded limbs” as they scrambled
over the rubble.
“I can hardly stand up," one man told AFP news agency.
"We've been going through hell for 340 days now. What we've seen over
these days, we haven't even seen it in Hollywood movies, now we're
seeing it in Gaza."
Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said on Wednesday night that
18 people were killed, including Unrwa staff members, children and
women, and that 18 others were injured.
A Telegram post from the agency identified one of those killed as the
daughter of one of its rescue workers, Momin Salmi. It said he had not
seen Shadia for 10 months because he had stayed in northern Gaza while
his wife and their eight children had fled southwards.
The BBC was not able to independently verify the death toll, but a medical
source at al-Awda hospital in Nuseirat camp told AFP that a total of 15
people killed in the strike had been brought there and to al-Aqsa hospital.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said aircraft had “conducted a precise
strike on terrorists who were operating inside a Hamas command and
control centre” embedded inside al-Jaouni school.
“Numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians,
including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional
intelligence,” it added.
“This is a further example of the Hamas terrorist organisation’s
systematic abuse of civilian infrastructure in violation of international
law.”
Gaza’s Hamas-run government media office accused Israel of a “brutal
massacre”.
Later, Unrwa said in a statement that two air strikes had hit the school and
its surroundings, which were home to around 12,000 displaced people,
mainly women and children.
"Among those killed was the manager of the Unrwa shelter and other team
members providing assistance to displaced people," it said.
The agency insisted that "schools and other civilian infrastructure must
be protected at all times", adding: "They are not a target."
"We call on all parties to the conflict to never use schools or the areas
around them for military or fighting purposes."
Hours before the incident, Unrwa said in a situation report that almost
70% of its schools in Gaza had been hit during the war.
It also reported that 214 of its staff members had been killed, along with
at least 563 displaced people who had been sheltering inside its schools
and other installations.
Israel has previously accused Unrwa of supporting Hamas.
The agency has denied this, but the UN said in August that it had fired
nine of Unrwa's 13,000 staff in Gaza after investigators found evidence
that they might have been involved in the 7 October attack. Another 10
staff were cleared because of insufficient evidence.
Israel also alleged that hundreds of Unrwa staff were members of terrorist
groups, but a UN review published in April found Israel had not provided
evidence for its claims.
In a separate development on Wednesday, the IDF announced that two
Israeli soldiers had been killed and eight others injured in a helicopter
crash overnight in southern Gaza.
The helicopter was on a mission to evacuate a critically injured soldier to a
hospital for medical treatment and crashed while landing in the Rafah
area, a statement said.
“An initial inquiry conducted indicates that the crash was not caused by
enemy fire. The cause of the crash is still under investigation,” it added.
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Responses:
[55461] [55463] [55462] [55464] |
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55461 |
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Date: September 12, 2024 at 12:19:41
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: UN says Israeli strike on Gaza school killed six of its staff |
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your tax dollars at work...if you were really sincere in your protest, you would refuse to pay them...
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Responses:
[55463] [55462] [55464] |
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55463 |
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Date: September 12, 2024 at 13:32:43
From: old timer, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: UN says Israeli strike on Gaza school killed six of its staff |
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when you have nothing to say it’s ok to say nothing
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Responses:
None |
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55462 |
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Date: September 12, 2024 at 13:14:51
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: UN says Israeli strike on Gaza school killed six of its staff |
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don't post that to me... :)
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Responses:
[55464] |
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55464 |
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Date: September 12, 2024 at 13:53:32
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: UN says Israeli strike on Gaza school killed six of its staff |
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it'll be our little secret...
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Responses:
None |
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