New Boiling Point Between Hamas And Israel

Israel strikes school and mosque. People are watching during morning prayers. The Israeli military said the site is a Hamas command center, a claim Hamas denies.

The airstrike was the deadliest in the 10-month war. An IDF airstrike on a school on Saturday morning killed at least 100 people, the Gaza Economic Support Service reported. The school was in an office.

The strikes targeted the Tabin school in Gaza City. It also included a mosque. The school was attacked without warning from the IDF to evacuate.

In response to the attack, the White House issued a statement on Saturday saying it was “deeply concerned” by reports of high-profile casualties. They demanded that Israel take steps “to minimize the cost of paying the population.”

The IDF issued several statements on Saturday and Sunday. In them, it disputes the death toll and the extent of the strike. Israel says strike targeted Hamas command center built into school complex.

The IDF and Shin Bet, the country’s domestic intelligence service, said “at least 19 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists were killed.”

The IDF statement also made a major dispute, saying the munitions used “cannot be dangerous.”
“We mourn every crisis-stricken world citizen who has died in this conflict, including children, and too many more continue to be killed and injured,” the White House said in statements.

What Hamas says

Hamas denies the school is a command center. The group called Israel’s claim that the strike killed 19 militants “false and baseless” and called the attack a “heinous massacre.”

NBC News cannot independently verify who is right. Video collected by NBC News from inside the school showed extensive damage. Walls were smashed and broken rafters hung from the ceiling.

In an interview with the Associated Press, an eyewitness described the scene as “people praying there. People were washing and upstairs people were sleeping, including children, women and old people. The shell hit them “without counting.” Al-Mogher, the agency’s head of documentation, said the process of identifying bodies was “extremely difficult.”

A Defense Ministry spokesman said the death toll could rise “due to the plight of the wounded.”

“There are also many missing,” Basal said. “There are many bodies that cannot be identified.”

Hamas said the strike was a “dangerous escalation” and called on the international community to “take urgent action to stop these massacres.”

Consequences

According to the organization, 477 of the 564 schools in Gaza have been directly linked to or damaged since the outbreak of the current conflict on October 7. Hamas’s attacks in southern Israel have killed about 1,200 people and claimed 240 more. The war has now killed about 40,000 people and injured 90,000.

American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators continue to honor the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement.
The US State Department said Washington has given Israel $3.5 billion to buy US weapons and military equipment, as first reported by CNN on Friday. That was ultimately taken from a $14 billion supplemental funding bill for Israel that Congress ultimately passed.

The Palestinian mission to the UN said the Democratic presidency held the US responsible for the Tabin school strike: “The US must stop blindly supporting thousands of innocent civilians, including children, women and the elderly,” it said.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/scores-killed-israei-strike-tabeen-school-gaza-city-rcna166069