The ongoing conflict in Gaza has reached a new level of tragedy with recent Israeli airstrikes on two United Nations-run schools in Gaza City, resulting in the deaths of at least 30 people, most of them children. These attacks have added to the mounting humanitarian crisis in the region, where civilians, particularly children, have become the primary victims of a war that shows no signs of abating.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most enduring and complex disputes in modern history. The latest escalation began in October after Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel, killing over 1,100 people. In response, Israel initiated a devastating military offensive on Gaza, leading to widespread destruction and loss of life. Gaza, a densely populated and blockaded strip of land, has borne the brunt of this conflict, with civilians paying the highest price.
On Sunday, Israeli airstrikes targeted the Hassan Salama and al-Nasr schools in western Gaza City, killing at least 30 people and injuring many more. According to Dr. Marwan al-Hams, director of hospitals in the Gaza Ministry of Health, approximately 80% of those killed and injured were children. These schools, which had been converted into shelters for displaced Palestinians, were supposed to be safe havens. Instead, they became the latest sites of carnage in a conflict that has seen too many civilian casualties.
The schools had been housing families who had fled their homes due to ongoing Israeli airstrikes. With most residential buildings in Gaza either destroyed or deemed unsafe, schools have become the only large spaces capable of accommodating large numbers of displaced people. However, as these recent attacks demonstrate, even these supposed refuges are not immune to the violence.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah, noted the disturbing pattern of attacks on evacuation centers in Gaza. “This is the same exact scenario that we’ve seen in the past few days. What we know for a fact right now is that there is [a] concentration of attacks on evacuation centers. What’s really concerning about that is … that the Israeli military is not giving any prior warning to people inside these evacuation centers,” Mahmoud said.
This latest tragedy is not an isolated incident. The bombing of the schools on Sunday followed a similar attack the previous day, when an Israeli airstrike targeted the Hamama school in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, killing at least 15 people. The repeated targeting of schools and other civilian structures has raised serious concerns about the tactics employed by the Israeli military.
The Israeli military has defended its actions, claiming that the schools were being used by Hamas’s Al Furqan Battalion as hiding places for operatives and as command centers for planning attacks. However, these claims have been met with skepticism. Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from Amman, pointed out that the Israeli military has made similar claims in the past without providing concrete evidence. “The military says and continues to claim that Hamas is using these places, but we have never seen any evidence,” Salhut said.
The lack of evidence, coupled with the high civilian death toll, has led many to question the proportionality and legality of the Israeli strikes. Humanitarian organizations and international bodies have repeatedly condemned the attacks, calling for an immediate cease-fire and the protection of civilian lives.
The humanitarian impact of the conflict is staggering. Gaza’s Health Ministry reports that over 39,583 Palestinians have been killed since the offensive began, with an additional 91,398 injured. The majority of those killed are civilians, including a devastating number of children. The physical destruction is compounded by the psychological toll on the survivors, particularly the young.
Becky Platt, a British pediatric nurse who recently returned from a field hospital in Gaza, described the psychological distress she witnessed among children as unprecedented. “It’s very easy to be overwhelmed by the numbers when we watch the news or read about what’s happening in Gaza. Remember that each one of those numbers is one person, a child who has been forever changed by what’s happened. Then multiply that one child by thousands. That’s the work that needs to be done,” Platt said.
The destruction of essential infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, and homes, has left much of Gaza uninhabitable. The United Nations has reported that over 86% of Gaza has
has been affected by Israel’s evacuation orders, with most people forced into overcrowded and unsafe “safe zones” that continue to be targeted.
Efforts to negotiate a cease-fire have so far been unsuccessful. Talks in Cairo ended without a deal, and critics accuse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of deliberately sabotaging peace efforts to maintain his grip on power. According to a report from Axios, Netanyahu has toughened his demands, presenting new conditions that have made a cease-fire agreement with Hamas nearly impossible.
Meanwhile, the conflict risks escalating into a broader regional war. The assassination of a Hezbollah commander and Hamas’s political leader by Israeli forces has prompted threats of retaliation from Iran, raising fears of a wider military conflict that could draw in global powers.
Nebal Farsakh from the Palestine Red Crescent Society told Al Jazeera, “Israel has been systematically targeting civilians. These two schools are housing displaced civilians who have been forced to leave multiple times, and now even they have been forced to flee another time after this attack.”
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