According to the UN, 69 percent of the Strip’s school buildings have turned into shelters for internally displaced people whereas 88 percent of all educational structures have sustained damage.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has condemned Israel’s attack on a shelter-turned school belonging to the United Nations’ agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in the Nuseirat camp, central Gaza Strip.
Israel launched a barrage of attacks on the Jaouni school in the besieged Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing at least 16 people, some of whom were dismembered, whilst injuring about 50 others, as per figures by Palestine’s news agency, Wafa.
According to Wafa, this was the second such attack on the school since Israel waged its brutal war, widely described as a genocide, on October 7.
In a statement shortly after the attack, the GCC’s Secretary General Jassem Albudaiwi strongly condemned “the Israeli criminal act” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip while calling for an immediate ceasefire.
“The brutal and ongoing attacks by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the rest of the Palestinian territories, and their direct targeting of refugee camps for the displaced people, constitute a flagrant violation of international laws and humanitarian treaties,” Albudaiwi said.
He added that the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip “confirm the serious criminal approach of the Israeli occupation forces without any regard for legal, moral and humanitarian values”.
Those killed in the attack are among more than 38,000 people killed by Israel in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the onslaught.
The war displaced at least 1.9 million people out of the Gaza Strip’s population of 2.1 million – down from the UN’s initial estimate of 2.3 million, following the deaths and exodus of people.
According to the Border Authority, about 110,000 Palestinians have been forced to flee the Gaza Strip through Egypt via the shared Rafah Crossing, which has been out of service following Israel’s invasion on May 6.
Schools and hospitals have been transferred into shelters for internally displaced Palestinians, which have been subjected to attacks and raids by Israeli occupation forces.
According to the UN, 69 percent of the Strip’s school buildings have turned into shelters for internally displaced people whereas 88 percent of all educational structures have sustained damage.
UNRWA has been on the receiving end of Israel’s attacks since the start of the war, with at least 188 of its installations damaged and 193 of its staff killed.
On May 29, the Israeli Knesset approved a draft law aimed at designating UNRWA, the main aid provider for Palestinian refugees, as a “terrorist organisation,” stipulating the complete closure of the agency’s offices in Israel.
In January, at least 16 countries had decided to halt funding UNRWA after Israel accused 12 of UNRWA’s employees of allegedly being involved in Hamas’s surprise attack of October 7. The countries represented $440 million of the agency’s overall funding.
Some countries have decided to resume funding the agency including Finland, Sweden, Canada, Australia, Japan, France, the Netherlands, Italy among others. The U.S., UNRWA’s largest donor, is reinstating funds next year.
In a statement on May 17, UN experts expressed disappointment over the freezing of funds to the agency despite the lack of evidence regarding the claims against its staff.
“This indicates that UNRWA has yet again been targeted politically at critical moments—raising serious questions about accountability for the damage inflicted both on UNRWA and on the Palestinians in Gaza that the agency serves,” the experts said at the time.
