JERUSALEM (dpa-AFX) - Grim details emerged on Wednesday of Israeli airstrikes on a UN-run school in Gaza sheltering 2,000 displaced people, which reportedly killed 30 Palestinians inmates.
The UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, alleged that Israeli forces hit the school in Al Bureij, Middle Gaza, at around 6 pm on Tuesday and again a few hours later in the night.
'The school sustained severe damage and a fire broke out in the shelter, making it difficult to evacuate the casualties. Residents had to open a hole in the wall to evacuate the dead and wounded,' UNRWA told UN News.
The agency noted that fatalities included women and children, while search and rescue operations are ongoing for several people still missing.
Many of those living at the school when it was hit have been displaced 'countless times' by the war, UNRWA added.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict on 2023 October 7, more than 400 schools were hit directly, according to satellite imagery analyzed by the UN.
According to the UN Satellite Service, 95.4 per cent of schools in Gaza have sustained damage since the start of the war.
Most of the enclave's 564 schools will either need full reconstruction or major rehabilitation work to be functional again, UNRWA said.
In a related development, the UN human rights chief Volker Türk condemned Israel's reported plans to forcibly transfer Gaza's population to a small area in the south of the Strip.
The move fuels concern that Israel's intention is to make life for Palestinians 'increasingly incompatible with their continued existence in Gaza', he said in a statement.
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