Another school full of displaced people, another massacre in Gaza. At least 90 people were killed this Saturday in an Israeli airstrike on a school in the Al Daray neighbourhood of Gaza capital, according to emergency services. The Hamas government in the Strip puts the number at more than 100. Most of them, including children and women, were praying in a hall where there were about 250 people, according to witnesses quoted by local media. Others were in nearby classrooms and were hit by shrapnel or by fire, as the attack caused a fire, reports the television channel Al Jazeera. Al Ahli, the hospital where the wounded are arriving, is not coping and is using recycled material for treatment.
The Israeli army claims that it targeted a “command and control centre serving as a hideout for Hamas terrorists and commanders” and that it had previously taken “numerous measures to mitigate the risk of harming civilians.” It also says that the strike was “precise” and that some 20 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants were operating there.
What is exceptional about the attack is the high number of fatalities, which brings the total after ten months of war even closer to 40,000. This month alone, Israel has bombed four other schools housing displaced people, all in the capital, leaving some 80 dead in total. Its troops have also returned to the city of Khan Yunis this week, after forcing the umpteenth forced displacement of its inhabitants, leaving new images of long lines of civilians carrying their few belongings in the direction of another place.
The bombing comes amid a renewed international push for a ceasefire in Gaza. Two days ago, the countries that have been mediating for months to end the war (the United States, Egypt and Qatar) called for a meeting in Doha on Thursday and issued a joint statement calling on the parties to seal an agreement “without wasting any more time and without excuses.” In an unusual reaction, the Foreign Ministry in Cairo has described the bombing of the school as a “deliberate murder” that shows the lack of “political will” by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach an agreement that would end the invasion and allow the return of the more than 100 hostages remaining in Gaza.
The possibility of a ceasefire has gained momentum following a telephone conversation between Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden, and above all because of fears of a regional war after the double murder – acknowledged or attributed to Israel – last week: Hezbollah’s number two, Fuad Shukr, in Beirut; and Hamas leader Ismail Haniya, in Tehran. On Tuesday, the Palestinian Islamist movement chose Yahia Sinwar, mastermind of the attacks of October 7, 2023 and the man most wanted by Israel, to replace Haniya.
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Mediators are hastily trying to offer Tehran and the Lebanese militia an end to the bombing of Gaza in exchange for them easing up on their announced retaliation. Ali Fadavi, deputy commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, stressed on Friday his readiness to carry out the “clear and explicit” orders of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to apply a “harsh punishment and revenge for the blood of Ismail Haniya”, but there are apparently divergences and negotiations are continuing with the more pragmatic sectors. The militias in Gaza have launched several rockets against Israel in recent days.
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