Israeli forces attacked schools in Gaza 95 times in the past two months
OCHA says UN agencies have documented 95 Israeli attacks on school buildings in Gaza between October 6 and December 15. Most of the buildings were serving as shelters for displaced Palestinians.
Some 61 of the attacks took place in besieged North Gaza, it said. On December 14 and 15 alone, four schools were hit, it reported. These include:
- An Israeli raid on the Khalil Owaidah School in Beit Hanoon, where tens of people were killed, while men and boys were separated and women were forced to move southwards. The deaths – which Gaza’s Government Media Office put at 43 – included 10 to 15 people who medics said were incinerated.
- An Israeli bomb attack on the UN-run Ahmad Bin Abdul Aziz School in al-Mawasi in Khan Younis, which killed at least 20 people. International doctors at the nearby Nasser Hospital said that at least 18 people died in the emergency department, including 12 children under the age of 12. One doctor described having to treat injuries they had never seen in their entire career.
Rights group slams Israel’s ‘urbicide’ in North Gaza
The Euro-Med Monitor says Israel’s military is razing Palestinian towns to the ground in North Gaza as part of its 14-month-long “genocide” in the enclave.
Israeli soldiers have been using aerial bombardment, explosive-laden robots and bulldozers to lay waste to Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoon in North Gaza, the Geneva-based group said.
The Israeli campaign, which began on October 5, has left the Jabalia camp “entirely in ruins, reduced to piles of rubble and impassable streets” it said, citing testimonies from displaced families as well as aerial footage from the area.
“The pattern of devastation demonstrates that it is not militarily necessary but serves the deliberate purpose of erasing the Palestinian material and cultural presence. This constitutes a grave breach of international law,” Euro-Med said.
“Israel’s actions align with a broader policy of urbicide where the destruction targets not just Palestinian individuals and property, but the erasure of their cultural and civilisational existence. The goal is to obliterate any material or historical trace connecting Palestinians to their land, thereby weakening their ability to remain and survive in their ancestral areas,” it added.
Winter rains bring ‘new set of life-threatening challenges’ in Gaza
Anera, a US-based charity group, says weather forecasts are predicting rain in Gaza this week. And for displaced Palestinians living in makeshift shelters, tents and damaged buildings, the rain brings new dangers, it said.
They include:
- Flooded shelters and camps
- Lack of protection from the elements as tarps, plastic sheeting and insulation materials are largely unavailable in Gaza
- Increased health risks as waterlogged conditions heighten the risk of waterborne diseases and respiratory infections
- Unstable ground and safety hazards.
On the up side, less polluted drinking water from the sky :/
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