‘Bloody massacre’: Reactions to Israeli attack on Gaza school

An Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter for displaced Palestinians in Gaza City has killed more than 100 people including women and children, according to Palestinian officials, who expect the death toll to rise.

The Israeli army on Saturday claimed its air forces struck a “command and control centre” that “served as a hideout for Hamas terrorists and commanders” at the al-Tabin school. It did not provide evidence and said it had taken steps to reduce the risk of harming civilians, while dismissing the death toll from Palestinian officials as inaccurate.

Hamas

“The massacre at al-Tabin school in the Daraj neighbourhood in central Gaza City is a horrific crime that constitutes a dangerous escalation,” said the movement that governs the Gaza Strip.

Izzat al-Rishq, a member of the Palestinian group’s political bureau, said there were no armed men at the school.

Hamas said in its statement that Israel’s claims of the school being used as the group’s command centre are “excuses to target civilians, schools, hospitals, and refugee tents, all of which are false pretexts and exposed lies to justify its crimes”.

“We call on our Arab and Islamic countries and the international community to fulfill their responsibilities and take urgent action to stop these massacres and halt the escalating Zionist aggression against our people and defenseless citizens,” the statement ends.

Ismail al-Thawabta, the director general of Gaza’s Government Media Office, called on the international community and United Nations Security Council “to pressure Israel to end this cascading bloodbath among our people, namely innocent women and children”.

Fatah

Fatah, the rival Palestinian faction that last month signed a “national unity” agreement with Hamas, said the attack was a “heinous bloody massacre” that represents the “peak of terrorism and criminality”.

“Committing these massacres confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt its efforts to exterminate our people through the policy of cumulative killing and mass massacres that make living consciences tremble,” it said in a statement.

Iran

Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, said the Israeli government’s goal was to thwart ceasefire negotiations and continue the war.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Nasser Kanaani said Israel had again shown that it wasn’t committed to international law, as he condemned the attack as genocide and a war crime.

He urged immediate action from the UN Security Council and said Israel’s actions in Gaza were a threat to international peace and security.

Egypt

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Israel’s “deliberate killing” of unarmed Palestinians shows that it lacks the political will to end the war in Gaza.

It accused Israel of repeatedly committing “large-scale crimes” against “unarmed civilians” whenever there is an international push for a ceasefire, in a statement cited by the state-run Middle East News Agency.

It said such attacks reflect “an unprecedented disregard” for international law.

Egypt, the United States and Qatar have called for a new round of ceasefire negotiations for Thursday, as fears grow of a broader conflict, involving Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.

UN special rapporteur

Francesca Albanese, the United Nations’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, condemned the world’s “indifference” to mass bloodshed in Gaza following the attack.