This article is published in association with United Nations.
The UN Human Rights Office condemned on Saturday the increasing frequency of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) strikes on schools, where hundreds of thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinians have sought shelter, with the latest attacks killing dozens at a Gaza City school.
At around 4:30am during dawn prayer on Saturday, a mosque inside Al Tabaeen School was struck by the IDF “at least three times”, the UN rights office, OHCHR, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory said in a statement, adding that the attacks were “conducted with apparent disregard for the high rate of civilian fatalities”.
An initial report showed the strikes killed at least 93 Palestinians, including 11 children and six women.
Between 7 October and 8 August, at least 39,699 Palestinians were killed and 91,722 were injured in the ongoing war, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
More than 90 per cent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has been displaced, many multiple times, since 7 October, when Hamas-led attacks on Israel left 1,200 dead and 250 people taken hostage, with more than 100 remaining in Gaza as talks continue to end the war.
Schools must not be a target: UNRWA chief
Schools, UN facilities and civilian infrastructure should not be targets, Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, reiterated in a social media post on Saturday morning.
“Another day of horror in Gaza, another school hit with reports of dozens of Palestinian killed among them women, children and older people,” he said, adding that parties to the conflict must not use schools and other civilian facilities for military or fighting purposes and must, at all times, protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.
“It’s time for these horrors unfolding under our watch to end,” he said. “We cannot let the unbearable become a new norm. The more recurrent, the more we lose our collective humanity.”
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21st strike on schools since July
The majority of fatalities resulting from the Saturday IDF strikes appear to have been inside the mosque performing their prayers, OHCHR reported. Dozens of others were reportedly seriously injured, mostly children, women and older people.
This is at least the 21st strike on a school, each serving as a shelter, that the UN Human Rights Office has recorded since 4 July. These strikes have resulted in at least 274 fatalities, including women and children.
“Despite IDF statements that all measures are taken to avoid civilian harm, the repeated strikes on shelters [for displaced people] in areas to which the populations have been forced to move and the consistent and predictable impact on civilians suggest a failure to strictly comply with obligations required by international humanitarian law,” OHCHR stated.
Schools are often the ‘last resort’ for shelter
The agency said these systematic attacks on schools came in the context where most of Gaza’s population has been displaced while the Israeli military continues detonating residential buildings and restricting the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance.
Internally displaced Gazans face “indescribable horror” after 10 months of hostilities, including multiple forced displacements, the rapid spread of diseases and ongoing denial of access to the basic necessities of life, OHCHR said.
“For many, schools are the last resort to find some shelter and possible access to food and water,” according to the UN agency.
© UNRWA
The war in Gaza has seen an unprecedented number of attacks on UN premises and staff.
Violating international humanitarian law
In most of the incidents, OHCHR said, the Israeli military asserts that the schools were used by Palestinian armed groups and that they took measures to reduce civilian harm.
“While the co-location by armed groups of military objectives with civilians or the use of the presence of civilians with the objective of shielding a military objective from attack constitute violations of international humanitarian law, it does not negate Israel’s obligation to comply strictly,” OHCHR said.
That includes the principles of proportionality, distinction and precaution when carrying out military operations.
“Israel, as the occupying power, is obliged to provide the population it has forcibly displaced with basic humanitarian needs, including safe shelter,” the UN rights office said.
Civilians must not bear brunt of conflict
UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Tor Wennesland, urged all parties to the conflict in Gaza to prioritise the protection of civilians, conclude a deal for a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza and implement its provisions without delay or condition in line with UN Security Council resolution 2735.
“The cost in lives of this war is evident with every passing day as we have witnessed yet another devastating strike on a school sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians, with dozens of fatalities,” he said in a statement on Saturday.
“Every day civilians continue to bear the brunt of this conflict amidst horror, displacement and endless suffering.”
Encouraged by the perseverance of the leaders of the United States, Egypt, and Qatar as mediators and their call on both sides to conclude the ceasefire and hostages release deal, he said the UN is committed to supporting all efforts towards this goal.
“An end to this nightmare is long overdue,” he stressed.
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