EU’s Borrell ‘horrified’ by images from bombed Gaza City school
Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, says he is “horrified” by the images coming out of Gaza City’s al-Tabin school, where over 100 people were killed in an Israeli attack.
Writing on X, Borrell noted the attack is the 10th to hit Gaza’s schools in recent weeks, causing “massacres” for which “there is no justification”.
Borrell also used his post to criticise Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for opposing a ceasefire deal, saying it is the only way to “stop the killing of civilians” and secure the release of Israeli captives.
Horrified by images from a sheltering school in Gaza hit by an Israeli strike, w/ reportedly dozens of Palestinian victims.
At least 10 schools were targeted in the last weeks. There’s no justification for these massacres
We are dismayed by the terrible overall death toll. 1/2
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) August 10, 2024
Biden ‘could have stopped the genocide’: Leader of Israel’s Balad Party
In a post on X, Sami Abou Shehadeh, leader of the Balad Party in Israel, says that although US President Joe Biden “could have stopped the genocide, he instead just released 3.5 billion [dollars] for more weapons to kill civilians”.
He also stated that “there’s no opposition among Israeli Zionist parties to the genocide” and “the latest debate in Israeli Jewish society is about whether they have the right to rape prisoners.”
“The Palestinian people remain under attack on all fronts, including Palestinian citizens of Israel,” he said, adding, “Netanyahu, without any opposition, is destabilizing the region, preparing to destroy Lebanon and making sure that Egypt, Jordan (countries that signed bilateral agreements with Tel Aviv) and others are weakened.”
Shehadeh concluded the post by asking, “If the ICC [International Criminal Court] doesn’t take action now, then when?”
In May, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan applied for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
Israel committed ‘new crime against humanity’ in school attack: Turkey
The Turkish Foreign Ministry has released a statement condemning Israel’s dawn attack on a prayer hall at al-Tabin school in Gaza City, which was sheltering hundreds of displaced Palestinians.
It said that Israel is responsible for “massacring” more than 100 civilians who had taken refuge in the school.
“This attack demonstrates once again that the Netanyahu government intends to sabotage the negotiations for a permanent ceasefire,” the statement continues.
“International actors who do not take steps to stop Israel are complicit in Israel’s crimes.”
Arab, Islamic world must unite against Israel, top Hamas official urges
Hamas’s deputy head in Gaza, Khalil al-Haya, has spoken to Al Jazeera Arabic after Israel’s attack on Gaza City’s al-Tabin school, which has killed more than 100 people.
During the interview, al-Haya accused Israel’s military of “massacring” women and children in the bombardment, which he said was evidence of it trying to wipe Palestinians out of the enclave.
He said the attack merited an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council and called on Arab and Muslim countries to unite against Israel, including by closing their embassies in the country.
Finally, al-Haya said Hamas would continue to fulfill its “duty” to defend Palestinian people, who he claimed were united around the group.
Israel’s military claimed it bombed al-Tabin school, which was housing displaced people, because it was being used as an “active compound” for Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Hamas in a statement rejected the allegations as false and “excuses to target civilians”.
PA calls on US to end support for Israeli onslaught on Gaza
A spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, has urged Israel’s ally Washington to put an end to “blind support that leads to the killing of thousands of innocent civilians, including children, women, and the elderly”.
Abu Rudeineh’s statement released by the official Wafa news agency comes hours after Israeli forces bombed a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City, killing more than 100 people.
The spokesman said that “this heinous crime” comes on the heels of the Biden administration’s allocation of $3.5b to Israel for weapons, making Washington “directly responsible for this massacre, and for the continuation of the Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip for the tenth month running”.
‘Lives are being sacrificed for nothing’
Gideon Levy, a columnist for Haaretz, says that an agreement to end the war in Gaza will not be “worth the paper it is written on”.
“The only game changer will be when the Americans wake up and start to act, not only to talk,” he told Al Jazeera from Tel Aviv,
He also said that Netanyahu sending delegations to talks aimed at an agreement are merely tools for him to buy time and to pay a “lip service”.
“It convinced the Americans that Israel is doing its best to get to an agreement. It has gone like this now for months, while the life of the [Israeli] hostages is at risk, and we saw this morning what happens to the life of the people of Gaza,” Levy added.
“Every day that continues this bloodbath, there are more crimes being committed, and more lives are being sacrificed for nothing.”
