A United Nations school sheltering displaced people in the southern Gaza Strip was hit Sunday by what a U.N. official said appeared to be an Israeli airstrike, an attack that killed 10 people as Israel signaled a possible scaling back in the ongoing war.
At least 10 people were killed and another 35 injured at the Rafah school, which housed 3,000 displaced Palestinians, U.N. officials said.
Witnesses said the explosion at the school occurred as people were waiting in line for food. In the chaotic aftermath, several bodies, including those of children, were strewn across the ground in pools of blood.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the reported attack, the second to hit a school in less than a week, and the third strike in 10 days on a U.N. school used for refugees.
The latest attack drew a strong rebuke from U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, who called it “a moral outrage and a criminal act.”
In his most strongly worded statement yet on an attack against a U.N. facility in Gaza, Ban called it “yet another gross violation of international humanitarian law, which clearly requires protection by both parties of Palestinian civilians, U.N. staff and U.N. premises, among other civilian facilities.”
“This attack, along with other breaches of international law, must be swiftly investigated and those responsible held accountable. It is a moral outrage and a criminal act,” Ban said.
Source-VOA News
