Israeli army using Gaza schools as military barracks, execution sites: report

Israel's army has turned Gaza schools used to shelter displaced people into makeshift military barracks and sites for field executions, a human rights monitor said on Wednesday.

The bodies of at least 15 people were found on Wednesday at a school in the west of the Jabalia refugee camp, according to reports. Eyewitnesses and relatives of victims told Al Jazeera that those killed were shot at point-blank range.

The Euro-Med human rights monitor said testimonies it had received and its preliminary investigations had found that the individuals had been executed after interrogation by the Israeli army.

"We were shocked to discover 15 bodies after the Israeli forces left the school," Muhammad Jalal, 37, told Euro-Med.

"It was obvious that they were directly shot, and some of them had their bodies disintegrated due to the heavy gunfire." 

Almost all of Gaza's population has been displaced from their homes since Israel began their brutal offensive on the Palestinian territory on 7 October. Close to 19,000 people have been killed in the Israeli air and ground offensive.

Palestinians fleeing their homes have sought shelter at schools and hospitals, where they still faced bombardment or stormings by Israeli forces.

Israeli forces last week arrested and rounded up dozens of men who had been sheltering at two schools in Gaza. Those arrested were stripped and severely beaten.

Among those arrested was Diaa Al-Kahlout, a journalist with The New Arab's Arabic-language sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Israel has shelled and stormed several schools since 1 December, when they resumed their operations after a week-long ceasefire.

Some 50 people were killed when the Israeli army stormed the Salah al-Din school in Gaza City earlier this week, Euro-Med said.