An Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter for displaced Palestinians in Gaza that killed 18 people has drawn fierce global condemnation.
The attack flattened part of the al-Jaouni school in Nuseirat on Wednesday and killed six workers from UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees, which runs the school. The agency said it was the highest death toll among its team in a single incident in its history.
“Among those killed was the manager of the UNRWA shelter and other team members providing assistance to displaced people,” it said on X.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres branded the strike “totally unacceptable”.
His spokesman Stephane Dujarric said women and children were among the dead.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he was “outraged” by the deaths and the strikes showed a “disregard of the basic principles” of international humanitarian law.
Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Sufyan Qudah issued a statement denouncing the attack in which he said: “Israel’s continued violation of international law and international humanitarian law is a result of the absence of a strong and decisive international stance.”
The director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, also condemned the strike, writing on X: “The carnage in Gaza must stop.”
