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A Palestinian boy stands in a destroyed room a UN-school housing displaced people that was hit during Israeli bombardment in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, on June 6, 2024. Bashar Taleb, AFP

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Gaza

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:900px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17177270474116-7-2024 10-40-16 AM.png" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left"><span id="isPasted" style="white-space:pre-wrap">A Palestinian boy stands in a destroyed room a UN-school housing displaced people that was hit during Israeli bombardment in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, on June 6, 2024. <em>Bashar Taleb, AFP</em></span></span></span></span></div><p>PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES — Faisal Thari&#x27;s quest for safety led him to seek refuge in a UN school, only to face the horror of Israel bombing it Thursday. Shocked, he deplored the civilian toll of the Gaza war.</p><p>&quot;The strike landed on civilians and poor people who had nothing to do with anything,&quot; Thari told AFP.</p><p>&quot;Why? What have we done for them to bomb us?&quot; he said, standing in front of concrete hanging from the classroom ceiling by a thread of rebar.</p><p>&quot;We&#x27;ve fled from place to place. There is no safe place. No UNRWA school is safe. No tent is safe. There is no safe place,&quot; he said, referring to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/world/2024/5/14/netanyahu-claims-almost-half-of-gaza-s-death-toll-are-hamas-fighters-1756" id="isPasted">• Netanyahu claims almost half of Gaza&#x27;s death toll are Hamas fighters</a></div><p>With railings dangling from the facade and blood still pooled in a corner, the distinct UN blue on the walls was a sign the building had served as a school for Nuseirat refugee camp.</p><p>The Israeli army said it had &quot;conducted a precision intelligence-based strike on a Hamas compound in an UNRWA school in Nuseirat&quot; at around 2:00 am on Thursday.</p><p>Israel said it had &quot;eliminated&quot; several militants in a &quot;precise strike on a Hamas compound embedded inside a UNRWA school.&quot;</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/01/28/24/countries-halt-funding-to-un-agency-in-gaza">• Countries halt funding to UN agency in Gaza</a></div><p>The Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in nearby Deir al-Balah said the strike killed 37 people and wounded 60, with many of them in critical condition.</p><p>&quot;We are in a very tragic situation because there is no space inside the hospital to receive more casualties,&quot; said its director, doctor Khalil al-Dakran.</p><p>UN chief Antonio Guterres called the strike &quot;just another horrific example of the price that civilians are paying&quot;.</p><p>&quot;There will need to be accountability for everything that has happened in Gaza,&quot; his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/world/2024/3/26/un-expert-accuses-israel-of-several-acts-of-genocide-in-gaza-1054" id="isPasted">• UN expert accuses Israel of several acts of &#x27;genocide&#x27; in Gaza</a></div><div><strong>THOUSANDS SHELTERING</strong></div><p>The hospital had been running at four times its clinical capacity, he said, and the number of deaths may increase in coming hours because of its overstretched services.</p><p>&quot;Another horrific day in Gaza. Another UNRWA school turned shelter attacked&quot;, UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini wrote on social media platform X.</p><p>Lazzarini said 6,000 people had been sheltering on the school&#x27;s grounds when it was struck by Israel.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/world/2024/6/3/more-than-half-of-gaza-structures-destroyed-or-damaged-un-1904">• More than half of Gaza structures destroyed or damaged: UN</a></div><p>&quot;Claims that armed groups may have been inside the shelter are shocking&quot;, he said, adding his agency was unable to verify them.</p><p>The UNRWA chief said the agency had given the coordinates of the facility to Israel but it was still hit.</p><p>On the ground, an AFP journalist saw dozens of people crying amid bodies.</p><p>Distraught adults stood around a dead child laid on a blood-stained stretcher.</p><p>A woman held the child&#x27;s hand as the emergency blanket was wrapped around his body, a shiny substitute for a shroud.</p><p>People dressed in UNRWA vests inspected damage to the building.</p><p>In a classroom where dozens of people had been staying, chunks of concrete were strewn across the floor, along with mattresses and Batman-themed sheets.</p><div><strong>&#x27;WE WERE SLEEPING&#x27;</strong></div><p>&quot;We were sleeping and at 2 o&#x27;clock we woke up to the ceiling, walls, and windows falling on us,&quot; Salman al-Maqdama told AFP, having just returned from the hospital with his head wrapped in gauze and numerous scars on his face.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/10/13/23/palestine-warns-of-second-nakba-catastrophe-in-gaza">• Palestine warns of &#x27;second Nakba&#x27; catastrophe in Gaza</a></div><p>Ziad al-Qatrawi, also displaced, said those killed were civilians who had fled &quot;their homes in the north and came here to hide, to live a safe life&quot;.</p><p>Laundry was still hanging on the remaining intact railings behind Gamal Fnouna, a displaced Gazan.</p><p>&quot;Where do we go after eight months? They (the Israeli army) have chased us around and told us to come to these places which are supposed to be safe.&quot;</p><p>Many UNRWA buildings throughout the Gaza Strip were turned into shelters for civilians, due to the space they offer and the perception that UN buildings would be safer.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/11/06/23/israel-hamas-war-lures-next-generation-of-palestinian-militants">• Israel-Hamas war lures next generation of Palestinian militants</a></div><p>UNRWA says most of its schools housing displaced have been damaged by the war, some having been razed to the ground.</p><p>The Israeli army regularly accuses armed Palestinian militants of hiding in these buildings, but the Islamist Palestinian movement Hamas denies the charges.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/world/2024/6/4/palestinian-children-dream-of-school-in-gaza-water-queues-2126">• Palestinian children dream of school in Gaza water queues</a></div><p>A doctor at the Al-Aqsa hospital said that six more people were killed and many more wounded in a separate Israeli strike overnight on a house in Nuseirat.</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ST_7bdOKVJc?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>The Israeli army regularly accuses armed Palestinian militants of hiding in these buildings, but Hamas denies the charges.</p>

The Israeli army regularly accuses armed Palestinian militants of hiding in these buildings, but Hamas denies the charges.

'Why bomb us?': Gazans shocked after Israel hits UN school, killing 37

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'Why bomb us?': Gazans shocked after Israel hits UN school, killing 37

Agence France-Presse

Published Jun 07, 2024 10:49 AM PHT

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Palestine

Gaza

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