▲ A young Palestinian looks on as bodies of victims of Israeli missiles are carried away at the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in Gaza.Afp Photo
Bel Trew
The Independent
The newspaper La Jornada
Sunday, August 11, 2024, p. 16
Tel Aviv, Gaza, at just after 4 a.m. on Saturday, Palestinian families displaced from other parts of the enclave gathered for Fajr prayers at the Al-Tabain school, which has been converted into a makeshift shelter in the Palestinian city.
The multi-storey complex, which houses a mosque on the ground floor, had become home to some 4,000 people, according to local authorities.
Shortly before the prayer began, Israeli missiles exploded among the congregation, leaving bodies of worshippers torn to pieceswitnesses declared The IndependentOsama al-Kahlout, 28, a displaced person from Gaza City who lived on the campus with his family, said his father, a 63-year-old university professor of Arabic, was among those killed in the bombing. Kahlout said his father always took part in morning prayers and that his body was found in a pool of blood under the rubble.
We were unable to find my father’s head. We only identified him by his hands, which have some marks.the dismayed son said. The ground was covered in blood and bodies. Everywhere we walked we found blood.
Ibrahim al-Masry, who was also sheltering in the building after being displaced from Beit Hanoun, said he only survived because he arrived late and was on the top floor of the building when the bombing began. He said it took him 15 minutes to get down to the site of the attack because the fire was so huge.
The injuries were horrific: hands and legs had been amputated. I saw two wounded people running out of the mosque, engulfed in flames, begging for help.
The powerful missiles were reported to be emitting such intense heat that a doctor treating the wounded at Al Ahli Hospital commented in a digital voice message: The bodies were torn apart, burned, roasted actually..
Palestinian civil defense officials in Gaza said at least three remote-controlled rockets hit the al-Tabain school and mosque.
Palestinian medics treating the wounded said they counted at least 80 dead, including women, children and the elderly. The Hamas-run Health Ministry said the total death toll had exceeded 100.
Death toll under debate
The Israeli army acknowledged the attack but expressed doubts about the death toll given by the Palestinians, saying that three accurate ammunition.
In a statement, the military said Hamas and Islamic Jihad had hidden a command center inside the school and mosque, and that the strike had eliminated 19 militants from those organizations operating there.
They said they took “numerous steps… to mitigate the risk of harming civilians” before launching the strike.
Hamas denied having a base at the school, while civilians living in the compound said they were sheltering there because they had fled their homes.
The attack, which occurred just days before renewed ceasefire talks brokered by the United States and Qatar, was widely condemned. The White House expressed its deep concern deep concern by the bombings, adding that There are still too many civilians killed and injured in the war in GazaBritish Foreign Secretary David Lammy said horrified for the attack and “the tragic loss of life.
We need an immediate ceasefire to protect civilians, release all hostages and end aid restrictions.Lammy wrote on social network X. Hamas must stop endangering civilians, and Israel must comply with international humanitarian lawhe added.
The high representative of foreign policy of the European Union, Josep Borrell Fontelles, expressed that There is no justification for these massacres He added that at least 10 schools have been targeted by Israeli attacks in recent weeks. Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia also condemned the massacre.
Israel imposed a crippling siege and launched an unprecedented bombardment of Gaza in retaliation for the bloody Hamas attack in the south of its territory on October 7, in which more than 1,000 people were killed and 250 taken hostage. Since then, Israeli attacks have killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, the vast majority of them women and children, local authorities say.
Shelter bombed
The United Nations human rights office said that since October there have been systematic attacks on schools by Israel, at least 21 from July 4 onwards, with hundreds of dead, including women and children. For many, schools were the last refuge to find some shelter and possible access to food and water.he added.
Juliette Touma, communications director for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, said that while Al-Tabain was not a U.N. school, the organization has recorded attacks on its shelter schools killing more than 570 people and injuring at least 1,700 since October.
He called to remember that civil infrastructure must be protected at all timesThere has been a flurry of diplomatic action in recent days after the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh sparked fears of a wider regional war. There have been hopes of a breakthrough in unblocking peace talks after world leaders united in calling for a meeting in either Qatar or Egypt on Thursday.
US President Joe Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani personally signed the statement supporting the August 15 talks. But there are concerns that yesterday’s bloody attack could derail the project. At Al Ahli Hospital, where the wounded from the bombing were being treated, director Fadel Naim said they were struggling to treat dozens of wounds because they lacked the most basic burn supplies, including gauze, sterilisation equipment and bandages.
Doctors were able to identify at least 70 bodies, but Naim said that between five and 10 body parts are so mutilated that they are completely impossible to identifyKhamis Elessi, a neurological rehabilitation consultant at the hospital, said: “I hope this massacre is the last and that everyone wakes up.
This savage act will serve to wake up every person with a conscience to act, and to do so quickly to stop this war against civilians.he added.
Additional reporting by Salma Ouaguira and Nedal Hamdouna
© The Independent
Translation: Jorge Anaya
