What to remember from Thursday, September 12

Eighteen people were killed in an Israeli raid targeting a school sheltering displaced people in the Gaza Strip.

The UN condemned, on Thursday, September 12, the death of six of its employees in an Israeli strike against a school sheltering displaced people in the Gaza Strip. In total, 18 people were killed, according to rescuers. Franceinfo looks back at the highlights of the day.

Aid workers killed in Gaza in Israeli raid

The deadly raid was denounced by the United Nations and the European Union. UN chief Antonio Guterres said “condemned the deaths of at least 18 people, including children, women and six UNRWA employees [l’agence pour les réfugiés palestiniens]in Israeli airstrikes that hit a school used as a shelter in Nousseirat”in the center of the Gaza Strip.

The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said: “scandalized”. “The disregard for the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, in particular the protection of civilians, cannot and must not be accepted by the international community”he added. For its part, Germany considered an act “totally unacceptable”.

When a school “becomes a command and control center for Hamas (…) it then becomes a legitimate target”argued David Mencer, a spokesman for the Israeli government. “This incident must be the subject of an independent and thorough investigation,” added the number one of the UN, urging “all parties to refrain from using schools, shelters or surrounding areas for military purposes”.

WHO believes it has met its polio vaccination target in Gaza

The first round of polio vaccinations in Gaza, aimed at preventing an outbreak in the war-torn territory and beyond, has likely reached its goal, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. More than 552,000 children had already received a first dose as of Wednesday. They are due for a second dose in about four weeks, the agency said on the last day of the first phase.

“We are convinced that we have probably achieved the set objective”Richard Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization’s representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, said at a press briefing. “We are satisfied” of this vaccination campaign, he said. And added: “We are very grateful that the area-specific humanitarian pauses were respected during the campaign” by the belligerents.

Three dead in Israeli strike on southern Lebanon

The Lebanese Health Ministry announced that three people, including a child, were killed and three others wounded in an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon. The strike targeted the village of Kfarjouz, near the town of Nabatieh and about 10 kilometers from the border with Israel, according to the ministry. The Lebanese news agency ANI said the attack targeted “two motorcycles on the Nabatieh-Kfarjouz road” and that a “car passing by there” had also been affected.

Hezbollah claimed to have carried out several attacks on Israeli military sites in northern Israel, including using “drone swarms”. According to the Israeli army, “Following the sirens that sounded over the past hour in the Western Galilee region, approximately 15 projectiles were identified crossing into Israeli territory from Lebanon.”.

Head of elite military intelligence unit resigns

“The commander of Unit 8200, Brigadier General Yossi Sariel, informed his superiors of his intention to resign”the Israeli army wrote in a statement. In a copy of General Sariel’s letter released by Israeli media, the officer asks “sorry for not having fulfilled the mission which [lui] was allocated” October 7th.

Kan public television revealed in June the existence of a report from Unit 8200 dated September 19, 2023, that detailed training by elite units of the Palestinian Islamist movement for raids on military positions and kibbutzim in southern Israel, less than three weeks before Hamas launched its bloody attack.