By Mohamed Majed
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Palestinian resistance group Hamas called a deadly Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced civilians in Gaza City on Saturday a “war crime” under US cover.
At least 22 people, including 13 children and six women, were killed early Saturday when Israeli fighter jets hit a school housing displaced people in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, according to local authorities.
"These unprecedented crimes in modern history constitute a flagrant violation of all human values and international laws, and an insistence on continuing the brutal genocide in Gaza, with military and political cover provided by the US administration,” Hamas said in a statement.
It said the Israeli attacks “place the human conscience and the international system with all its institutions before a moral, humanitarian and legal test, to confront the aggression of the Israeli occupation, stop its crimes, and hold its terrorist leaders accountable."
According to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, the Israeli army bombed around 21 schools sheltering displaced people in the Gaza Strip since last month, killing 267 Palestinians and injuring hundreds.
Israel has systematically targeted civilian facilities, including schools, hospitals, and places of worship, amid its ongoing offensive on the Gaza Strip.
Under the rules of war, targeting such civilian facilities can constitute a war crime.
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since a Hamas attack last October despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.
Nearly 41,400 people, mostly women and children, have since been killed and over 95,700 injured, according to local health authorities.
The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.
• Writing by Ikram Kouachi