14 killed in Israeli air strike on UNRWA-run school
The IDF said in a statement that it had taken steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including using precise munitions and aerial surveillance.
Palestinian rescue workers say at least 14 people have been killed and dozens of others wounded in an Israeli strike on a UN-run school that was being used as a shelter for displaced people.
The Israeli military said the building, in the Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City, was being used by Hamas to plan and execute attacks on Israel.
The IDF gave no further details.
The military said it took steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including using precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence.
In recent months Israel has conducted dozens of air strikes on schools across the Strip, structures where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by fighting have sought refuge.
The United Nations said in September that around 85% of all schools in Gaza have been hit or damaged, with many requiring major reconstruction work to be functional again.
And the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said 70% of the schools it administers have been hit and that 95% of them were being used as shelters.
Shortly after the Shati strike, the Israeli army ordered the evacuation of the refugee camp among other neighbourhoods west of Gaza City, spreading panic among Palestinians who in recent days had sought refuge in those areas from Israel’s renewed offensive against Hamas militants further north.
Israel’s issues with UNRWA
Israel has long accused UNRWA of turning a blind eye to Hamas militants among its staff and of allowing the group to use its facilities for military purposes.
UNRWA denies those claims.
In October, Israel’s parliament passed laws effectively banning UNRWA’s operations in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Multiple UN agencies have since rallied around UNRWA, calling it the “backbone” of the world body’s aid activities in Gaza and other Palestinian areas.
UNRWA provides education, health care and emergency aid to millions of Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation and their descendants.
Refugee families make up the majority of Gaza’s population of around two million people.
Aid to enter Gaza
Meanwhile, the IDF says it will allow 300 truckloads of humanitarian aid supplied by the United Arab Emirates to enter the Gaza Strip in the coming days.
ADVERTISEMENTThat’s less than the 350 trucks per day that the United States said it wants to see enter the territory.
COGAT, the military body in charge of civilian affairs in Gaza, said the aid was brought in by sea and unloaded at the Israeli port of Ashdod, just north of Gaza.
It said the shipment, which includes food, water, medical equipment, shelter and hygiene supplies, would be inspected before being transported into Gaza, though it did not specify a date.
The amount of aid entering Gaza dropped dramatically in October as Israel launched another offensive in the territory’s north.
ADVERTISEMENTBy the end of October, an average of just 71 trucks a day were entering Gaza, according to the latest UN figures.
The United States warned Israel to ramp up the entry of aid by mid-November, saying failure to do so could lead to a reduction in military support.
Israel says it allows plenty of aid to enter Gaza and blames UN agencies and other aid groups for not distributing it.
Humanitarian groups say their efforts are hobbled by Israeli restrictions, ongoing fighting and the breakdown of law and order.
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