The United Nations has confirmed that a school in northern Gaza, operated by them, has been severely impacted, in what a senior UN official has described as a "horrifying" incident. Al-Fakhoura School in Jabalya, which was providing shelter to displaced individuals, has been shown in a video to have bloodied bodies scattered across multiple rooms on both floors of the building. The casualties include a significant number of women and children.
One room reveals approximately twelve lifeless bodies scattered on the dusty floor. Desks are scattered and destroyed, and a noticeable gaping hole can be observed in the wall of one of the rooms. Outside in the building courtyard, a metal structure's canopy roof seems to have been forcefully ripped away, leaving debris scattered across the ground.
Juliette Touma, a representative for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, responsible for overseeing schools in Palestinian refugee camps and serving as the primary UN relief agency in Gaza, verified the occurrence. She stated that the exact number of casualties remains unclear as new information continues to emerge.
Touma was unable to determine the cause of the incident or identify the individuals responsible.
In a post on X (previously known as Twitter), UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini expressed shock at the "horrifying" images, and stated that thousands of displaced people had sought refuge in that location during the incident.
The incident is currently under review by the Israeli military, according to CNN. However, they did not provide any additional comments. Egypt and Qatar have already attributed the incident to Israel's military campaign in the heavily damaged enclave. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry characterized it as a "bombing" and cited it as the most recent among a series of Israeli infringements on civilian lives in Gaza.
Qatar called on independent investigators from the United Nations to go to Gaza to examine what it described as the "ongoing targeting of schools and hospitals."
Video Ad Feedback
30 minutes to flee an airstrike
05:28
- Source:
According to CNN, the UNRWA reported that an incident occurred on Saturday, marking the second time within a twenty-four hour period that a school in northern Gaza was hit. Touma, a representative from the agency, stated that on Friday, another school in Zaitoun was also struck multiple times while housing approximately 4,000 individuals.
She mentioned that the school was inaccessible to ambulances, presumably due to the ongoing conflict and the lack of communication.
Lazzarini estimated that numerous individuals were killed in the incident and expressed, "These recurring attacks need to cease immediately. We cannot delay a humanitarian ceasefire any further."
This is a developing story and will be updated.
