7 massacres in days.. The occupation and systematic targeting of the displaced in Gaza schools

Over the past 10 days, the Israeli occupation army has bombed 7 schools housing displaced Palestinians in Gaza who fled to them in search of shelter after their homes were destroyed and they were forcibly displaced due to the ongoing war since October 7.

The Israeli attack on Gaza schools resulted in the martyrdom of more than 179 Palestinians, including children, women and elderly people, in addition to hundreds of wounded, according to Anadolu Agency.

The occupation army follows a systematic policy of targeting schools and shelters where displaced people have taken refuge in Gaza. The government media office in Gaza said last Monday in a statement that the recent massacres raised the number of shelters inhabited by displaced people that the occupation army has targeted since the beginning of the genocidal war in Gaza to 172 schools and shelters, including 152 schools inhabited by displaced people, some of which are government schools and others affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). The number of martyrs in those massacres exceeded 1,050 martyrs.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said in a statement on July 17 that about 70 percent of its schools in the Gaza Strip had been targeted since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza. The statement said that more than 95 percent of these schools were being used as shelters when they were targeted by Israeli bombing.

For his part, the head of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, Rami Abdo, told Anadolu Agency that "the Israeli army's justification for the massacre by saying that it targeted a military site is not proven and does not justify killing this large number of civilians."

He added: "Israel cannot continue to kill, burn and injure hundreds of civilians every day, and then claim that there are military targets in the targeted areas without providing real evidence or allowing independent international bodies to verify the validity of this evidence."

He continued: "Every time Israel commits a massacre, it makes the same claims about targeting military sites or leaders, even though these claims have been proven to be false."

The following are the most prominent massacres committed by the occupation against schools housing displaced persons in the Gaza Strip during the last ten days:

• School of the Followers

In the latest massacre committed by the Israeli occupation army, it bombed the "Al-Tabi'in" school at dawn on Saturday, in the Al-Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City, which led to the martyrdom of more than 100 Palestinians and the injury of dozens, including children and women.

The government media office in Gaza said on Saturday that "the Israeli occupation army committed a massacre inside the Tabeen School in Gaza City, which resulted in more than 100 martyrs and dozens of injuries." The occupation army admitted to bombing the school, claiming that "Hamas elements used the school's command headquarters to hide and promote various terrorist attacks against the army and Israel."

For its part, Hamas said that the occupation army "fabricates flimsy pretexts to target civilians, schools, hospitals and tents of the displaced to justify its crimes in the Gaza Strip." It considered the massacre of the Tabeen School a dangerous escalation in the series of crimes of the occupation "unprecedented in the history of wars."

• Al Zahraa and Abdel Fattah Hamoud schools

As part of the series of targeting schools in Gaza on August 8, 17 Palestinians were killed and dozens were injured, including children, after Israeli warplanes targeted Al-Zahraa and Abdul Fattah Hamoud schools, which house displaced people in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood east of Gaza City.

The Israeli occupation army admitted to attacking the "Abdul Fattah Hamoud" and "Al-Zahraa" schools in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood in Gaza, claiming that they were used as "hides" by Hamas fighters.

For its part, Hamas condemned the Israeli bombing of two schools housing displaced people in Gaza City, which resulted in dozens of deaths and injuries. The movement warned that the aim of these "brutal massacres" is to "exterminate, displace and terrorize civilians."

• Hassan Salama and Al-Nasr schools

On August 4, the Israeli bombing of Hassan Salama and Al-Nasr schools resulted in the deaths of 30 people and the injury of dozens, including those in critical condition. On August 5, the Israeli occupation army claimed that it had killed Jaber Aziz, the commander of Hamas’s Al-Furqan Battalion, in its bombing of a school used to shelter displaced persons in Gaza City.

The occupation army said in a statement via the "X" platform that it "targeted, based on intelligence guidance, Hamas militants who worked in a command and control complex belonging to the organization, which was camouflaged inside the Hassan Salama and Al-Nasr schools in Gaza City."

In contrast, Hamas considered the Israeli bombing that targeted the two schools in Gaza City to be “an extension of the Israeli war of extermination against civilians, and a violation of international laws with the aim of terrorizing and displacing them.”

• Dove School

In the context of targeting Gaza schools, on August 3, an Israeli bombardment targeting the Hamama School in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City resulted in the martyrdom of 17 Palestinians and the injury of others, including children and women. Following the bombing, the Israeli occupation army admitted to attacking the school, also claiming that Hamas was using it as a “Hamas command and control complex.”

For its part, Hamas responded with a statement, saying that "the fascist occupation army is promoting blatant lies, claiming that civilian sites, including schools, hospitals, displacement centers, and shelters, are being used for military purposes, and is using these lies as a pretext to target defenseless civilians."

• Dalal Al-Maghribi School

On August 1, 15 Palestinians, including two children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school in the Shujaiya neighborhood east of Gaza City. The Israeli army admitted that day that it had targeted the school, claiming that it was a hideout for Hamas fighters.

For its part, Hamas described the bombing of the school as a "new massacre" that is added to the series of massacres committed by the Israeli occupation army in its ongoing aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip.

(Anatolia, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed)