NUSERAT REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip — A United Nations agency providing assistance to Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip said an Israeli airstrike hit a school that was sheltering families in central Gaza, killing six staff members.
It was the fifth time the Al-Jawni school has come under attack since the start of the war, according to the U.N. agency UNRWA. Around 12,000 people, mostly women and children, were taking shelter in the school, the agency said, and Wednesday’s attack killed the manager of UNWRA’s aid team.
Rescue workers said the attack caused the roof of a shelter to collapse, killing 18 people and leaving families desperate to search for loved ones through the rubble.
“No one is safe in Gaza,” the agency said in a statement. “No one can escape.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the attack a “serious violation of international humanitarian law.”
“What is happening in Gaza is completely unacceptable,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
The Israeli military said Hamas was using the school as a “command and control center.”
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon responded to Guterres’ criticism, writing to X: “It is unconscionable that the UN can continue to condemn Israel for waging a legitimate war against terrorists while Hamas continues to use women and children as human shields.”
UNWRA called on all parties to the conflict “never to use schools and their surrounding areas for military or combat purposes” and said “schools and other civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times.”
In July, Israeli forces struck several buildings on the grounds of Al-Jawni School, which it said was being used by Hamas fighters, reportedly killing 16 people.
UNRWA said Wednesday’s attack was the deadliest attack in a single incident. At least 220 staff have been killed since the war began. UNRWA director Philippe Lazzarini said humanitarian workers are being “neglected” in the Gaza war.
“The longer impunity continues, the less relevant international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions will be,” he wrote on social media.
The Gaza Health Ministry said more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed and 95,125 wounded in Israeli military attacks on Gaza since Oct. 7, when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel, leaving 1,200 people dead and 250 taken hostage.
Millions of Gaza residents have been displaced by the war, many multiple times, and are suffering from hunger and widespread disease.
The World Health Organization said on Wednesday it had carried out the largest medical evacuation from Gaza since the war began, transferring 97 sick or seriously injured patients and 155 accompanying persons to the United Arab Emirates for treatment. The patients, 45 children and 52 adults, had a range of conditions, including cancer and other illnesses and injuries caused by the war.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the evacuation was a “highly complex operation” that was “completed under extreme time pressure to get all the patients in one place.”
About 22,500 people, about a quarter of those injured in the war in Gaza, have injuries that require rehabilitation now and for years to come, according to a WHO report released Thursday. Some 3,105 and 4,050 limbs have been amputated as a result of the conflict, the report said. Many, including thousands of women and children, have suffered spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries and severe burns.
“Rehabilitation needs are skyrocketing while health systems remain overwhelmed,” said Dr Richard Piperkorn, WHO Representative for the West Bank and Gaza. “Patients are unable to receive the care they need. Acute rehabilitation services are severely disrupted and patients’ lives are at risk without access to specialized care for complex injuries. Immediate and long-term support is urgently needed to meet the massive rehabilitation needs.”
The only WHO-supported limb reconstruction and rehabilitation center in the Gaza Strip ceased functioning in December 2023 due to a lack of supplies and specialized medical workers being forced to leave the area in search of safety. Thirty-nine physiotherapists were killed, the report said.
The WHO said its latest report highlights just how great the unmet medical needs are in Gaza today.
NPR’s Ruth Sharrock reported from Rome. Anas Baba reported from Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Hadeel Al-Shalchi reported from Tel Aviv.