Israel launched an airstrike on a school in central Gaza that was housing displaced Palestinians, resulting in the deaths of 18 people, including UN staff members, according to rescuers. Meanwhile, the Israeli army claimed it targeted a Hamas control center. The Al Jawni school in Nuseirat had already been bombed multiple times during the 11-month conflict in Gaza. The latest strike on Wednesday obliterated part of the UN-run facility, leaving behind only a smoldering pile of rebar and concrete.
"For the fifth time, Israeli forces bombed the UNRWA-run Al Jawni School, killing 18 citizens, including two UNRWA staff members, children, and women, and injuring more than 18 others," stated Mahmud Bassal, a spokesperson for Gaza's Civil Defence, on Telegram. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, later confirmed that six of its staff members had been killed in two Israeli air raids on the Nuseirat school and its surroundings, marking the highest death toll among its team in a single incident.
"Among those killed was the manager of the UNRWA shelter and other team members providing assistance to displaced people," the UN agency posted on X. "Schools and other civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times; they are not a target." Many school buildings across the besieged Gaza Strip have been converted into shelters for displaced families, as the majority of Gaza's 2.4 million residents have been repeatedly displaced by the war.
Israeli forces have targeted several such schools in recent months, alleging that Palestinian militants were operating there and hiding among displaced civilians—accusations denied by Hamas. The Israeli military stated that it conducted a "precise strike" on a Hamas command and control center within the Al Jawni compound, taking "numerous steps" to minimize civilian casualties.
Survivors of the strike were seen frantically searching through the rubble for bodies and belongings, recounting having to step over "shredded limbs." "I can hardly stand up," one man said, holding a plastic bag of human remains. "We've been going through hell for 340 days now; what we've seen over these days, we haven't even seen in Hollywood movies, now we're seeing it in Gaza."
Gaza has been repeatedly labeled the world's deadliest place for humanitarian workers. UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini stated that at least 220 members of the agency's staff have been killed in the Gaza war. "Endless & senseless killing, day after day," he posted on X. "Humanitarian staff, premises & operations have been blatantly & unabatedly disregarded since the beginning of the war."
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell expressed outrage over the killing of six staffers from the UN Palestinian refugee agency in the Israeli air strikes on the school-turned-shelter in Gaza. "The disregard of the basic principles of IHL (international humanitarian law), especially protection of civilians, cannot and should not be accepted by the international community," Borrell wrote on X.
UN chief Antonio Guterres described the situation in Gaza as "totally unacceptable." In response, Israel's ambassador to the UN accused Guterres of distorting reality. "It is unconscionable that the UN continues to condemn Israel in its just war against terrorists, while Hamas continues to use women and children as human shields," Ambassador Danny Danon wrote on social media. "The solution," he added, "is not a ceasefire, but the release of all hostages still held in Gaza and the elimination of Hamas."
Further north in the Gaza Strip, three people were killed overnight in Israeli shelling on the Jabalia refugee camp, according to the civil defence agency's spokesman Bassal. In Gaza City, two deadly strikes occurred in the Zeitoun neighborhood—the first killing five, including two children, and the second killing two and injuring several others.
Months of negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States have failed to secure a truce. A Hamas delegation met Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Doha on Wednesday, but there was no indication of a breakthrough. Recent rounds of mediation held in Doha and Cairo have attempted to establish a framework proposed by US President Joe Biden, but both Israel and Hamas have shown deeper entrenchment in their negotiating positions.
The October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, which sparked the war, resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Among the dead were hostages killed in captivity. Israel's retaliation has claimed at least 41,084 lives in Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry. The UN rights office reports that most of the dead are women and children.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military reported the deaths of two soldiers when a helicopter crashed in the area of Gaza's southern city of Rafah. Another eight soldiers were injured. The aircraft had been on a "life-saving operation" to evacuate a wounded soldier when it crashed, according to Major General Tomer Bar. The latest casualties bring the Israeli military's losses in the Gaza campaign to 344 since its ground offensive began on October 27.
