UNRWA: Israeli attack on Gaza school kills six staff members – NPR

NUSEIRAT REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip – The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Gaza Strip reports Israeli air strikes hit a school in central Gaza that provided shelter to families and killed six of its employees.

The UN relief agency UNRWA said this was the fifth time the Al-Jaouni school had been hit since the war began. Around 12,000 people – mostly women and children – had sought refuge there, it said. The head of the UNRWA relief team was killed in the attack on Wednesday.

According to rescue workers, 18 people died in the attack, which caused the roof of an emergency shelter to collapse. Families were left desperately trying to find their loved ones in the rubble.

“Nobody is safe in Gaza,” the agency said said in a statement. “No one will be spared.”

António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, called The attacks were “dramatic violations of international humanitarian law.”

“What is happening in Gaza is totally unacceptable,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

The Israeli military said Hamas used the school as a “command and control center.”

Palestinians mourn after the Israeli attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp on Wednesday.

Moez Salhi/Anadolu via Getty Images

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Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, responded to Guterres' criticism with Write to X: “It is unbelievable that the UN continues to condemn Israel in its just war against terrorists, while Hamas continues to use women and children as human shields.”

The UNWRA called on all parties to the conflict “never to use schools or the areas surrounding them for military or combat purposes” and stated that “schools and other civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times”.

An earlier Israeli attack on several buildings on the grounds of the Al-Jaouni school in July reportedly killed 16 people. Israel says the school complex was used by Hamas militants.

According to UNRWA, Wednesday's attack was the most staff killed in a single incident. At least 220 of the aid agency's staff have lost their lives since the war began. UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said humanitarian workers were being “disrespected” in the Gaza war.

“The longer impunity prevails, the more international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions become irrelevant,” he said. wrote on social media.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed and 95,125 injured in the Israeli military offensive against Gaza since October 7, the day Hamas-led militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostage.

Millions of Gazans have been displaced by the war, many of them multiple times. The population is suffering from hunger and the spread of disease.

Debris is scattered inside the school.

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The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that it had carried out the largest medical evacuation from Gaza since the war began. 97 sick and seriously injured people and 155 accompanying persons were brought to the United Arab Emirates for treatment. The patients included 45 children and 52 adults with a variety of illnesses, including cancer and other diseases as well as injuries from the conflict.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, said The evacuation was a “highly complex operation” that was “carried out under enormous time pressure to bring all the patients together.”

A WHO report A report released on Thursday found that around 22,500 people – about a quarter of those injured in the Gaza war – have sustained injuries that will require rehabilitation now and in the years to come. Between 3,105 and 4,050 limbs have been amputated as a result of the conflict, according to the report. Many, including thousands of women and children, suffer from spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries or severe burns.

“The huge increase in rehabilitation needs coincides with the ongoing destruction of the health system,” said Dr Richard Peeperkorn, WHO Representative for the West Bank and Gaza Strip. “Patients are not receiving the care they need. Acute rehabilitation services are severely compromised and specialized treatments for complex injuries are unavailable, putting patients' lives at risk. Immediate and long-term support is urgently needed to meet the huge rehabilitation needs.”

Gaza's only WHO-supported limb reconstruction and rehabilitation center ceased operations in December 2023 due to a lack of supplies and because specialized health workers themselves were forced to leave the area in search of safety. According to the report, 39 physiotherapists were killed.

According to the WHO, its latest report underscores the extent of the unmet medical needs in the Gaza Strip today.

NPR's Ruth Sherlock reported from Rome. Anas Baba reported from the Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Hadeel Al-Shalchi contributed reporting from Tel Aviv.