More than 100 killed in Gaza City school strike, triggers global condemnation

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Israeli warplanes have flown low over the Lebanese capital Beirut, as fear of a full-scale war in the region increase.

Video footage shared online showed warplanes breaking the sonic sound barrier.

Israeli warplanes break the sound barrier over the Lebanese capital of Beirut. pic.twitter.com/LdtSu8Vvw7

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) August 10, 2024

Belgium's minister of foreign affairs, Hadja Lahbib, has condemned the Israeli attack on the al-Tabeen school in Gaza City, which has killed over 100 Palestinians on Saturday.

"Targeting civilian infrastructure violates international law and is unacceptable," she said on X.

Lahbib also held a phone call with her Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty, on "mediation efforts to avoid further escalation in the Middle East and to find a lasting political solution to the conflict in Gaza".

Protests demanding the release of hostages and opposing Israel's ruling coalition will take place cacross Israel on Saturday, Haaretz is reporting.

Families of captives are expected to make a statement outside the Defence Ministry complex in Tel Aviv, and there will be a rally outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art according to the newspaper.

France said it condemned "in the firmest of terms" Israeli strikes on a school housing displaced people in Gaza on Saturday that local authorities said killed at least 93 people.

"For several weeks, school buildings have been repeatedly targeted, with an intolerable number of civilian victims," it said.

Foreign Minister David Lammy on Saturday said that Britain was "appalled" at Israel's deadly air strike on a school in Gaza and called for "an immediate ceasefire".

"Appalled by the Israeli Military strike on al-Tabeen school and the tragic loss of life," Lammy wrote on X, adding: "We need an immediate ceasefire to protect civilians, free all hostages, and end restrictions on aid."

Israeli forces have shot and wounded three Palestinians  on Saturday in the southern Hebron region, Wafa said, citing  Palestinian security and local sources.

The sources reported that the individuals sustained injuries to their lower limbs near the village of Beit Marsam, located west of the town of Dura. The injuries were described as moderate. 

The injured were transported to hospitals in nearby Hebron City by Palestinian Red Crescent Society teams for medical treatment.

Israel’s military claims it has killed a a high-level Hamas official in an air strike on Friday.

In a statement, Israel’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee named the official as Walid al-Sousi, who he claimed led a department in southern Gaza and played a significant role in intelligence operations.

On Friday, Israel’s military named another Hamas official – Samer al-Hajj – it said it had killed in a strike in Lebanon’s Sidon.

Turkey on Saturday denounced a "new crime against humanity" after Israel's deadly strike on a school in Gaza killed dozens of people, according to a foreign ministry statement.

"Israel has committed a new crime against humanity by massacring more than a hundred civilians who had taken refuge in a school," the ministry said, accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of wanting "to sabotage ceasefire negotiations".

Iraq's top Shia Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani warned Saturday of the risk of a regional escalation with potentially "catastrophic consequences" following the killing of two Iran-backed militant leaders.

Sistani also urged an end to the "genocidal war" in Gaza, where the civil defence agency said an Israeli air strike Saturday on a school housing displaced Palestinians killed more than 100 people.

"Once again, the Israeli occupation army has committed a huge massacre adding to its series of ongoing crimes" in Gaza, Sistani said in a rare statement since the start of the 10-month-old war.

The recent high-profile killings of two leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah increased the danger of "major clashes" that could have "catastrophic consequences" for the region, he warned.

"We once again call on the world to stand against this terrible brutality," Sistani said, urging Muslims "to unite in order to press for an end to the genocidal war" in Gaza.

UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini has condemned Israel's deadly strike on a Gaza City school-turned-shelter which killed more than 100 people, stressing that schools "are not a target".

He went on to emphasise that "parties to the conflict must not use schools & other civilian facilities for military or fighting purposes, and parties to the conflict must protect civilians and civilian infrastructure at all times".

"It’s time for these horrors unfolding under our watch to end. We cannot let the unbearable become a new norm. The more recurrent, the more we lose our collective humanity," he said on X.

Another day of horror in #Gaza
Another school hit with reports of dozens of Palestinian killed among them women, children and older people.

Schools, UN facilities and civilian infrastructure are #NOTaTarget

🛑Parties to the conflict must not use schools & other civilian…

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) August 10, 2024

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Saturday expressed horror at a deadly strike by Israel on a school housing displaced people in Gaza.

"Horrified by images from a sheltering school in Gaza hit by an Israeli strike, with reportedly dozens of Palestinian victims. At least 10 schools were targeted in the last weeks. There's no justification for these massacres," Borrell wrote on X.

Horrified by images from a sheltering school in Gaza hit by an Israeli strike, w/ reportedly dozens of Palestinian victims.

At least 10 schools were targeted in the last weeks. There’s no justification for these massacres

We are dismayed by the terrible overall death toll. 1/2

— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) August 10, 2024

Qatar, a mediator between Israel and Gaza amid the ongoing war, on Saturday demanded an urgent probe after the latest Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians.

The foreign ministry said it renews the Gulf emirate's "demand for an urgent international investigation, including the dispatch of independent UN investigators, to ascertain the facts regarding the Israeli occupation forces' continued targeting of schools and shelters for displaced persons".

بيان | قطر تدين بشدة قصف الاحتلال الإسرائيلي مدرسة بقطاع غزة#الخارجية_القطرية pic.twitter.com/k9yOmaY1fR

— الخارجية القطرية (@MofaQatar_AR) August 10, 2024

At least 39,790 Palestinians have been killed and 92,002 have been injured in Israel's military offensive in Gaza since October 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani has condemned Israel’s attack on a school in Gaza City which killed more thana 100 people, describing the strike in a statement as an example of "genocide and crimes against humanity".

Kanaani added that Israel had again proved that "it is not committed to any international laws or moral principles".

He also called for immediate action from the international community and told the UN Security Council to stop Israel’s atrocities in Gaza, calling the situation there a threat to international peace and security.

At least 40 Palestinians from the West Bank have been detained by Israeli forces throughout Friday evening and Saturday morning, Wafa reported.

The arrests were confirmed by the Palestinian Prisoner's Society (PPS) and the Authority of the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners in an official statement.

Since October 7th, the number of Palestinians detained by Israeli troops has exceeded 10,000, including those taken from their homes, at military checkpoints, individuals who surrendered under pressure, and those held as hostages.

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur, reacted to the strike on a school-turned-shleter which killed over 100 Palestinians.

In a statement on X, Albanese said" Israel is "genociding the Palestinians one neighborhood at the time, one hospital at the time, one school at the time, one refugee camp at the time, one 'safe zone' at the time."

"May the Palestinians forgive us for our collective inability to protect them, honoring the most basic meaning of intl law," she added.

Gaza: In the largest and most shameful concentration camp of the 21st century, Israel is genociding the Palestinians one neighborhood at the time, one hospital at the time, one school at the time, one refugee camp at the time, one 'safe zone' at the time. With US and European… https://t.co/bHmrFbySYi

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) August 10, 2024

Around 250 people were inside the prayer hall at a school in Gaza City when it was hit by Israeli strikes  Saturday morning, local witnesses said.

Over 100 people were killed in the strike on the Al-Tabeen school in Gaza City's Daraj neighbourhood.

At least seven people have been killed near Khan Younis on Saturday, the Palestinian news agency Wafa said.

The strike occurred in Mann area, east of Khan Younis, Wafa said.

The head of Gaza’s Government Media Office,  Ismail al-Thawabta, said that the Israeli army used three bombs weighing 2,000 pounds (907kg) each in its attack on the al-Tabeen school, which has killed over 100 Palestinians

Speaking to Al Jazeera, al-Thawabta added that Israel was aware of the presence of displaced people inside the school.

Kamala Harris said that "now is the time" for a ceasefire in Gaza after activists chanted "Free free Palestine!" at a rally in Glendale, Arizona on Friday.

The presidential nominee seemingly changed her tone from a previous statement she made on Wednesday, when she said "if you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I'm speaking," after she was heckled by pro-Palestine activists in Detroit, Michigan.

In Arizona, Harris said: "The president and I are working around the clock every day to get that ceasefire deal done and bring the hostages home. So, I respect your voices, but we are here to now talk about this race in 2024."

Hamas denounced a "dangerous escalation" on Saturday after an Israeli strike on a school in Gaza killed between 90 and 100 people, according to the territory's civil defence agency.

"The massacre at Al-Tabeen School in the Daraj neighbourhood in central Gaza City is a horrific crime that constitutes a dangerous escalation," Hamas said in a statement.

Egypt said on Saturday Israel's "deliberate killing" of unarmed Palestinians shows that it lacks a political will to end the war in Gaza.

Egypt's foreign ministry statement came after more than 100 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli strike on a Gaza school sheltering displaced people, according to the official Palestinian news agency.

The Israeli army said it had hit a Hamas command centre.