Hamama School bombing | |
---|---|
Part of the Israel–Hamas war | |
Location | Sheikh Radwan, Gaza City |
Date | 4 August 2024 |
Target | Hamama school |
Attack type | Aerial bombing |
Deaths | 17+ Palestinians [1] |
Injured | 60+ Palestinians |
Perpetrator | Israel Defense Forces |
On 4 August 2024, the Israel Defense Forces bombed Hamama School in the Gaza neighborhood of Sheikh Radwan. The school had been sheltering people displaced by the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, including women and children. Per Gaza's Civil Defense, 17 people were killed and "many others" were wounded, while the school itself was "completely destroyed". The attack was one of a number of attacks on schools during the Israeli invasion of Gaza. The Israeli army stated that the school was being used by Hamas. Hamas criticized this claim as a false pretext "for targeting defenseless civilians". The Palestinian Resistance Movement called the attack a continuation of Israel's "brutal war of extermination" in Gaza. [2]
On 6 July, UNRWA-ran al-Jawni school sheltering 2,000 refugees at the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza was targeted by an IDF raid which killed sixteen Palestinians. [3] On 7 July, the IDF targeted the Latin Patriarchate-owned Holy Family school located in Gaza City housing hundreds of refugees, killing four. On 8 July, IDF force struck a different Nuseirat UNRWA-run school in, causing several injuries requiring treatment in a local hospital. [4] Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, stated two-thirds of all UNRWA schools in Gaza had been hit since October 2023. [5]
A United Nations Security Council Resolution adopted on 25 March 2024 had demanded an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas War. The attack on the Hamama School coincided with truce talks in Egypt. [6]
On 4 August, Israeli aircraft struck the Hamama School with a missile. Then, while first responders were rescuing victims of the initial strike, three additional missiles were fired at the school, killing more people and trapping some under rubble. This tactic is commonly used by the Israeli military. No warning was given prior to the first strike. [7] Women and children were among the casualties. [8] According to the Gaza Civil Defense, the Al-Hamama School was targeted alongside the adjacent Al-Huda School, which share a playground. [9]
Maghazi is a Palestinian refugee camp located in the Deir al-Balah Governorate in the central Gaza Strip. It was established in 1949. The camp is built on 559 dunums (0.6 km2). In July 2023, the UNRWA reported its population to be 33,000. During the first months of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, its population tripled and faced repeated airstrikes by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
Nuseirat is a Palestinian refugee camp located in the middle of the Gaza Strip, five kilometers north-east of Deir al-Balah. The refugee camp is in the Deir al-Balah Governorate, Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the refugee camp had a population of 31,747 and the surrounding Nuseirat municipality had a population of 54,851 in 2017. The camp was established after the 1948 Palestinian expulsion during the 1948 Palestine war.
The 2014 Israeli shelling of UNRWA Gaza shelters were seven shellings at UNRWA facilities in the Gaza Strip which took place between 21 July and 3 August 2014 during the Israeli-Gaza conflict. The incidents were the result of artillery, mortar or aerial missile fire which struck on or near the UNRWA facilities being used as shelters for Palestinians, and as a result at least 44 civilians, including 10 UN staff, died. During the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict, many Palestinians fled their homes after warnings by Israel or due to air strikes or fighting in the area. An estimated 290,000 people took shelter in UNRWA schools.
An armed conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups has been taking place in the Gaza Strip and Israel since 7 October 2023. It is the fifth war of the Gaza–Israel conflict since 2008, and the most significant military engagement in the region since the Yom Kippur War in 1973. It is the deadliest war for Palestinians in the history of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
From 9 October 2023, as part of the Israel–Hamas war, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has conducted airstrikes in Jabalia refugee camp, claiming it was a stronghold for Hamas and other militant groups.
The siege of Gaza City began on 2 November 2023, when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) surrounded Gaza City, amid the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, which was a counterattack to the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. Gaza City is the most populated city in the Gaza Strip and the battle started on 30 October 2023, when Israel and Hamas clashed in Gaza City. According to Oxfam, there are about 500,000 Palestinians, along with 200 Israelis and other captives, were trapped in a "siege within a siege" in northern Gaza.
Since the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war on 7 October 2023, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has conducted numerous airstrikes in densely populated Palestinian refugee camps in both the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Al-Maghazi refugee camp was struck several times.
In the Israel–Hamas war, as part of the bombing and invasion of Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has conducted numerous airstrikes in densely populated Palestinian refugee camps in both the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
Since the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war on 7 October 2023, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has conducted numerous airstrikes on more than 200 educational facilities, including universities, in the Gaza Strip. The IDF states such airstrikes are the result of the placement of military infrastructure and rocket launching from civilian areas, including schools. By late March 2024, the United Nations recorded more than 200 Israeli attacks on schools in Gaza, with at least 53 schools totally destroyed. By July 2024, all 19 Gaza universities had suffered severe damage with 80% of university buildings destroyed, 103 academics killed, and 90,000 students enrolled in higher education no longer able to pursue their studies. In June 2024, UNOCHA stated 76 percent of Gaza's schools required "full reconstruction or major rehabilitation", and in August 2024, UNICEF stated 564, or 85 percent, of all schools in Gaza had been hit by Israeli attacks.
Events in the year 2024 in Palestine.
The following is a list of events during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 2024, including the events of the Israel–Hamas war.
On 6 June 2024, the Israel Defense Forces fired two missiles at Al-Sardi, a UNRWA school in the Nuseirat refugee camp. Though the complex had not been used as a school since the outbreak of the war, UNRWA said approximately 6,000 people were using it for shelter.
On 8 June 2024, the Israeli military killed at least 276 people and injured over 698, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and Palestinian health officials, during a hostage rescue operation in the UNRWA Nuseirat refugee camp. The operation's objective was to free multiple hostages taken during the 7 October attack on Israel. The Israeli military acknowledged fewer than 100 Palestinian deaths.
On 9 July 2024, the Israeli Defense Forces bombed Al-Awda school in Abasan al-Kabira near the city of Khan Yunis, in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. The UNRWA-ran that had been converted into a displacement shelter, hosting refugees from the Israeli invasion. At least 31 Palestinians were killed in the attack while over 53 were injured; most of the casualties were women and children. Many of the victims were refugees from Rafah following Israel's Rafah offensive. The attack was the fourth attack on a Palestinian school conducted by the Israel Defense Forces over the prior four days.
On 10 August 2024, Israel struck the Al-Tabaeen school located in eastern Gaza City, which was hosting displaced Palestinians seeking shelter there during the Israel–Hamas war. At least 80 Palestinians were killed and 47 others were injured, with several victims being trapped in the school as the fire spread, according to Palestinian health authorities.
On 17 August 2024, the Israel Defense Forces conducted a series of military attacks on az-Zawayda in Deir al-Balah and in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least 34 people including a family of fifteen. The military strikes and civilian deaths were conducted shortly following the conclusion of ceasefire negotiations in Qatar between Hamas and Israel, mediated by the United States.
On 11 September 2024, the Israel Defense Forces bombed the UN-run Al-Jawni school in the Nuseirat refugee camp of central Gaza. The school had been sheltering people displaced by the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, including women and children. Per rescuers, 18 people were killed and more than 44 others were wounded. Among the killed were six United Nations workers, including the manager of the UNRWA shelter. This made it the highest death toll for UN staff in any single incident of the Israel–Hamas War and raising the number of UNRWA staff killed since the beginning of the war to 220. The attack was one of a number of attacks on schools during the Israeli invasion of Gaza and the fifth bombing of the Al-Jawni School since October 2023.
On 17 October 2024, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) bombed the UNRWA-run Abu Hussein primary school, which had been turned into a shelter for Palestinians displaced by the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. The airstrike killed at least 28 Palestinians and wounded 160 others.