Palestinian mother loses her six children in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza school

The Israeli army bombed another school-turned-shelter in Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 18 Palestinians while they waited for food. Among the deceased were six staff members of a UN agency.

According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinians, at least 12,000 civilians were sheltering at the al-Jaouni school in the Nuseirat refugee camp when the occupation forces launched two airstrikes on the building.

The UN agency stated that the death of its six staff members marked the “highest death toll” of its personnel since the beginning of the Israeli war on Gaza. A manager of the UN agency was also killed in the attack.

According to Al Jazeera, eyewitnesses described scenes of horror and absolute carnage following the Israeli attacks, with “women and children torn to pieces.”

Due to a lack of equipment, Palestinians dug through the rubble with their bare hands to recover bodies.

A Palestinian woman who survived the attack lost her six children, while another witness reported that the strike hit the section of the school where mostly women were present.

Without providing any substantial evidence, the Israeli military claimed that the attack targeted a Hamas command and control centre that was planning attacks against Israeli forces in Gaza.

The Israeli army has attacked at least six UN schools during its ongoing offensive in Gaza, killing Palestinians sheltering there under the pretext of targeting Hamas.

The Director of UNRWA’s Washington Office told Al Jazeera that the attacks occurred despite the UN agency “sharing their GPS coordinates with Israeli authorities.”

“Our staff are on the front lines, and they’re not going to back down, they’re not going to stop doing their job,” he added.

In separate attacks on the Palestinian enclave, the Israeli army killed three people and injured seven others who were buying bread from a bakery.

An Israeli attack at a home in southern Khan Younis killed six siblings from the same family.

The overall Palestinian death toll since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza has reached at least 41,084 with more than 95,029 wounded. Thousands more remain trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings.