Over 100 people including children and women were reportedly killed and dozens injured as Israeli missiles in a deadliest pre-dawn attack in recent times destroyed the al-Tabin school on August 10, in the Daraj area of Gaza City.
Most of the people were killed inside the school’s prayer hall and others inside nearby classrooms which were hit by flying shrapnels from the bombs, according to media reports.
The Israeli army used three bombs weighing 2,000 pounds (907kg) each in its attack on the al-Tabin school, Al Jazeera quoted Ismail al-Thawabta, head of Gaza’s Government Media Office as having said.
“The number of dead is expected to rise as the medical staff is struggling to cope with the severe injuries that resulted from the attack. Israel was aware of the presence of displaced people inside the school,” he added.
Many victims being brought to al-Ahli hospital are severely bleeding from shrapnels or ‘severely burnt cases’ from the fire that broke out from the bombardment.
Relatives at the hospital searching for their loved ones are struggling to find ways to identify them as many of the deceased bodies being brought in are hard to recognise, according to health officials adding, ‘the situation in Gaza is absolute desperation following the attack’.
Staff at the hospital are forced to use recycled material due to fewer resources, to treat the wounded — material that would just be disposed of after a single use, reports said.
Volunteers struggling to retrieve bodies
Volunteers and paramedics are still working to remove bodies from the bombed site. They are struggling as the bombs that were dropped on the school set fire to the facility. There are over 100 dead and the toll continues to escalate, according to some media reports.
Israeli military aggression in the recent past has forced between 60,000 and 70,000 people to evacuate from Khan Younis in southern Gaza towards the already densely crowded al-Mawasi area, according to the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA). At least 35 were killed in the most recent Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, including 19 in Khan Younis, Al Jazeera quoted medical sources as having said.
At least 39,699 people have been killed and 91,722 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7 and more than 200 were taken captive, media reports said.
Over the years, Israel has systematically decimated the health infrastructure in Gaza by targeting hospitals, and health workers, killing hundreds of doctors and nurses, and detaining many of them. Some others died of torture in Israeli detention camps.
Israeli attacks on schools in Gaza in August
At least 15 Palestinians were killed and 29 others injured on August 1 after Israeli forces bombed the Dalal al-Maghrabi school in the Shujaiya neighborhood in eastern Gaza City.
At least 17 people, including children and women, were killed and 60 others injured on August 3 when Israeli forces bombed the al-Hamama and Al-Huda schools, which shelter displaced people in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood west of Gaza City.
Israeli warplanes bombed the al-Nasr and Hassan Salameh schools in the al-Nasr neighborhood west of Gaza City on August 4 killing 30 Palestinians and leaving 19 others injured.
At least 17 civilians were killed, and dozens including children and women injured after Israeli planes on August 8 bombed the Abdul Fattah Hamouda and Zahra Schools in the al-Tuffah neighborhood in the east of Gaza City.
