UPDATE – At least 14 killed in new Israeli attack on UN-run school sheltering displaced Gazans

UPDATES DEATH TOLL, ADDS DETAILS, EDITS THROUGH

By Mohammed Majed

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – At least 14 people were killed and several others injured in Israeli bombing of a UN-run school housing displaced civilians in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Gaza’s government media office said.

Some staff members of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) were among the fatalities, the office added in a statement, without specifying their number.

The Civil Defense service said several children and women were among the victims in the attack that targeted al-Jaouni School in the Nuseirat refugee camp.

The attack was the fifth to have been launched by the Israeli army against the same school since Oct. 7, 2023 amid its ongoing onslaught on the Gaza Strip, the service said.

The school shelters more than 5,000 displaced civilians in Gaza, according to local authorities.

“It is the 47th massacre to have been committed by the Israeli army during its war of genocide in the Nuseirat refugee camp, where over 250,000 people live,” the media office said.

It said more than 18 schools and shelter centers were attacked by the Israeli army in the Nuseirat refugee camp since last Oct. 7.

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.

Last month, at least 100 people were killed and dozens injured in an Israeli strike on the Al-Taba’een School in Gaza City, where over 6,000 displaced people have sheltered.

Israel has continued a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

Nearly 41,100 people, mostly women and children, have since been killed and over 95,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the territory’s entire population amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel faces accusations of genocide for its actions in Gaza at the International Court of Justice.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala