what we know about the Israeli strike against a UN school which left at least 37 dead

The Israeli army claims to have eliminated “several terrorists”. Journalists and witnesses report that a large number of women, children and elderly people are among the victims.

A UN school deliberately targeted. The Israeli army claimed responsibility for an airstrike on Thursday June 6 against a school of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip, which left at least 37 dead, according to a report sent by the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir el-Balah. After eight months of war in the Palestinian enclave, triggered by an unprecedented terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7 on Israeli soil, this school, like many UNRWA buildings in Gaza, had been transformed into a shelter for the population. civilian displaced by the fighting. Here is what we know about this deadly attack.

Israel claims “precise” strike

For the Israeli army, which admits having launched the attack, the targeted establishment served as a refuge for Hamas. “Army fighter jets… carried out a precise strike on a Hamas base located inside an UNRWA school in the Nousseirat region”wrote the army in a press release, claiming to have thus eliminated “several terrorists” having taken part, according to her, in the attack of October 7.

Many UNRWA buildings in the Gaza Strip have been transformed into shelters for the civilian population of this Palestinian territory. UNRWA assures that most of its schools housing displaced people have been affected by the fighting and that some have been completely destroyed. The Israeli army accuses Hamas fighters, in power in the Gaza Strip since 2007, of hiding in these buildings. Hamas has repeatedly denied these accusations.

The human toll is very heavy

Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir el-Balah, in the center of the Gaza Strip, announced in the morning a death toll of 37 in the nighttime Israeli strike against an UNRWA school. Hani Mahmoud, an Al-Jazeera journalist at the scene, said a large number of women, children and elderly people were among the victims. The Hamas media office denounced “a horrible massacre”.

Walls of the school were destroyed, according to an AFP journalist, who saw a pile of carpets, blankets and mattresses on the ground, with blood stains. “We were inside the school and suddenly we were bombed, the people here were blown to pieces. (…) This building housed families and young people and the bombing took place without warning”a witness present at the time of the strike told Al-Jazeera.

Al-Aqsa hospital is overwhelmed

“A considerable number of martyrs and wounded continue to flock to Al-Aqsa Hospital”located in the town of Deir al-Balah, near the targeted region, the Hamas media office said after the strike. According to Al-Jazeera, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Islamist movement said that Al-Aqsa Hospital had currently reached three times its clinical capacity, as the dead and injured continued to flow.

Before this strike, the hospital had already received since Tuesday “at least 70 dead and more than 300 injured, mostly women and children, following Israeli strikes on central areas of the Gaza Strip”according to the NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

“The smell of blood in the emergency room this morning was unbearable. There are people lying everywhere, on the floor, outside.”described Karin Huster, MSF coordinator for Gaza, on the social network X.

Gabriel Attal calls for “a diplomatic solution”

From Utah Beach, where the commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings are taking place, Gabriel Attal was invited to speak on the situation in the Middle East in “4 Truths” on France 2. “This spiral of violence must stop”reacted the Prime Minister, before calling for “a diplomatic solution which allows a ceasefire”.

Confronted with the statements of the Israeli Prime Minister, who had compared the Landings and the situation at Rafah, the head of government responded: “Israel, obviously, is fighting against terrorism and against Hamas, responsible for one of the worst killings we have seen in recent decades.” And to recall that the Hebrew State must “do it while respecting humanitarian law and international law”.

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, accused Israel of having carried out this strike “without prior warning”. “Another UNRWA school transformed into a shelter was attacked”he regretted on X, specifying that the UN agency had transmitted the coordinates of this school to the Israeli army.