Israel’s war on Gaza live: Victims of Gaza City school attack ‘in pieces’
- More than 100 people have been killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli attack on a Gaza City school housing displaced Palestinians.
- Local doctors are “struggling to cope” as victims of the attack on al-Tabin School, many “in pieces”, are brought in, reports our correspondent in the besieged and bombarded territory.
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Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
- Dead bodies and critically injured patients are continuing to pour into al-Ahli Arab Hospital after Israel’s military bombed a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City.
- Over 100 of those killed from the attack, which took place during morning prayers, have been recovered, according to Gaza’s civil defence. But 35 of the bodies are so badly damaged or torn apart that they cannot be identified, it said.
- Israel has claimed without evidence the school was being used as a “compound” of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, with intelligence showing 20 of their fighters based there.
- Numerous countries in the region, including Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iran, have condemned the school attack, calling it is a violation of international law.
- Political analyst Hassan Barari said the attack could be part of Israeli PM Netanyahu’s efforts to undermine upcoming ceasefire talks, set to begin August 15.
- Israel’s military has waged more strikes in northern and central Gaza, killing seven people to the east of Khan Younis, three people in Nuseirat and others in Jabalia, according to the Wafa news agency and our colleagues on the ground.
Iran condemns Israeli strike on Gaza school
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani has condemned Israel’s attack on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City, describing the strike in a statement as an example of genocide and crimes against humanity.
He added that Israel had proved once again that it is not committed to any international laws or moral principles.
Kanaani said the only way to confront Israel is for Muslim countries to practically and firmly support the Palestinian nation.
He called for immediate action from the international community and told the UN Security Council to stop Israel’s “crimes” in Gaza, calling the situation there a threat to international peace and security.
In the statement, it added that in “the absence of a decisive international stance to restrain Israeli aggression and compel it to respect international law and stop its aggression against Gaza, and the results of this are unprecedented killings, deaths and human catastrophe”.
The ministry said that the attack, which took place during ongoing peace talks, is “an indication of the Israeli government’s attempt to block these efforts and postpone them”.
Sonic booms – the psychological warfare Israel uses to sow fear in Lebanon
Israeli jets have been increasingly triggering sonic booms – a thunderous noise caused by an object moving faster than the speed of sound – over Lebanon since October 7, the day of the attacks on southern Israel by Hamas.
Several residents told Al Jazeera the booms that sounded over Beirut on Tuesday were the loudest they had ever heard in the city.
More on Gaza school attack: 15 bodies damaged so badly they cannot be identified
People are still being removed from the bombed [school] site. Eighty bodies have so far been identified. Twenty bodies have not been able to be identified at all. On top of those, there are 15 bodies that have arrived [at the hospital] in pieces, completely shredded. They arrived either in plastic bags or wrapped in blankets. There is no way to identify these bodies whatsoever.
Families are looking for any possible way to identify their loved ones, such as a mark on the body or [unique features]. These are the lengths they are going to to identify them and offer them a proper burial.
Israel committing genocide ‘one school at a time’: UN special rapporteur
Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, has issued a statement condemning the world’s “indifference” to mass bloodshed in Gaza following this morning’s attack on the al-Tabin school.
“Israel is genociding the Palestinians one neighborhood at the time, one hospital at the time, one school at the time, one refugee camp at the time, one ‘safe zone’ at the time”, Albanese wrote in a post on X.
“May the Palestinians forgive us for our collective inability to protect them, honouring the most basic meaning of international law.”
