Israel’s deadliest attacks on Gaza’s schools-turned-shelters
We’ve been following an Israeli attack that killed at least 19 people sheltering at the Fahmi Al-Jarjawi school in Gaza City.
This is just the latest in Israel’s assaults on schools-turned-shelters in the Gaza Strip. Aid agencies say Israeli forces have destroyed or damaged some 95 percent of the territory’s schools since October 2023.
Here’s a look at some of the deadliest attacks:
- In November 2023, shortly after the start of the war, Israeli bombs and artillery strikes killed at least 50 people, including children, inside the al-Buraq School in Gaza City.
- In two attacks in November 2023 that were two weeks apart, the Israeli military struck the Al Fakhoura school in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, killing at least 65 people.
- In July 2024, the Israeli military killed at least 30 people in an attack on al-Awda School located in the southern town of Abasan, near Khan Younis.
- In August 2024, more than 100 people were killed when Israeli forces bombed the al-Tabin School in Gaza City as Palestinians gathered for their morning prayers.
- In April this year, at least 33 Palestinians were killed and more than 100 wounded in Israeli air attacks on three schools in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City.
UN experts have said that Israel’s attacks on civilian institutions, such as schools and hospitals, could amount to war crimes.
Palestinians inspect the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an Israeli strike, in Gaza City, May 26
Does international law permit Israel’s attacks on schools in Gaza?
International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which is based on a number of treaties, including the Geneva Conventions, seeks to limit the harmful consequences of war. First and foremost, among its provisions is a rule that requires parties to any conflict to distinguish between combatants and civilians at all times.
This means that civilians may never be the target of any attacks.
Warring parties are required to take all feasible precautions to minimise harm, not just to civilians, but also to civilian objects, such as homes, shops, schools, hospitals, houses of worship and cultural property. These structures may not be attacked unless they are being used for military purposes, such as to launch attacks or for storing weapons and ammunition.
This is why Israel has repeatedly sought to justify its attacks on civilians by claiming that the hundreds of hospitals, schools and mosques it has destroyed in Gaza have all been “command and control complexes” run by Hamas.
It has failed to provide evidence to back these claims, however.
Now, even if the allegation were true, UN experts have said that Israel has to comply with the principles of proportionality, distinction and precaution, including issuing warnings for evacuation. But Palestinians and rights groups say Israeli attacks on Gaza have often been disproportionate and indiscriminate, and often take place without warning, resulting in high civilian casualties.
Israeli forces have now killed nearly 54,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including more than 17,000 children and more than 1,000 healthcare workers.
Palestinians wounded in an Israeli strike are assisted at al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, May 26
