More than 100 Palestinians were killed and dozens injured, Saturday morning, after Israeli occupation forces bombed the “Al-Tabi’een” school, which houses displaced people in the Al-Daraj neighbourhood east of Gaza City.
Local sources reported that the occupation warplanes bombed the school while Palestinians were performing the dawn prayer, and they were specifically targeted after the Takbeer of the dawn prayer.
Eyewitness reports say limbs – arms, hands, feet and heads of those performing prayers were scattered around the school’s prayer hall in what is described as one of the worst massacres committed by the Israeli army yet.
The Civil Defense said that the bodies of citizens caught fire as a result of the Israeli bombing of the school, noting that the crews are trying to control the fire to retrieve the bodies of the martyrs and rescue the wounded but it’s a difficult and painful exercise.
Reports say the four-storey school was hit by three missiles each weighing 2000 pounds according to Al Jazeera. The prayer hall which was at the bottom of the building was itself hit by a devastating missile.
Director of Ambulance and Emergency in the Gaza Strip described the massacre as a heinous crime, while the spokesman for the Civil Defense in the Gaza Strip confirmed that the Israeli bombing of the school led to the martyrdom of 90% of the displaced people there.
In the first response from the Israeli occupation army, the Air Force confirmed it targeted the school because it was used by the resistance as a headquarters, which is the excuse that the occupation uses every time it commits a massacre with reporters on the scene saying this is an absolute lie.
About 350 families were sheltering at the school, amounting to around 1000 people. It recently received dozens of displaced persons from the northern town of Beit Hanoun, after they were forced by the occupation to leave their homes in search of a so-called safe area where non exist in Gaza.
According to the Civil Defense, Israeli warplanes used American-made missiles that reach high temperatures of up to 7,000 degrees Celsius, causing bodies to melt and fires to rage.
All the martyrs are scattered remains, and the majority of injuries are to the upper body (head and chest), with burns of the first and second degrees, in addition to limb amputations, according to the administration of the Baptist Hospital.
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This is not the only school targeted; the occupation targeted five schools in northern Gaza last week, according to the Civil Defense.
It is worth noting that the Baptist Hospital is the only one dealing with injury cases in Gaza City after the occupation destroyed Al-Shifa Hospital and rendered 25 hospitals and medical centers out of service, according to the Ministry of Health.
The Israeli occupation forces continue their aggression on the Gaza Strip, by land, air and sea, since October 7, 2023, which resulted in the martyrdom of 39,699 Palestinians, the majority of whom are children and women, and the injury of 91,722 others, in an incomplete toll, as thousands of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and rescue crews cannot reach them.
Dr Asmar is a writer based in Amman covering Middle East affairs. His website is https://crossfirearabia.com/
