"Hamas position"

27 killed in attack on UN school in Gaza Strip

Civilians are in constant danger amid the turmoil of war in the Gaza Strip. Here a woman with her child in a destroyed tent city in Rafah.

(Bild: AP/AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

The Israeli armed forces have reportedly carried out an airstrike on an Islamist Hamas position inside a school run by the UN Palestinian Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip. Between 35 and 45 people are said to have been killed.

According to Palestinian reports, most of the victims were women, children and young people, according to medical sources in the coastal area on Thursday morning. More than 50 people are said to have been injured.

School misused as a safe house
Members of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who were also involved in the massacres in Israel on October 7, had been active in the school. They had misused the area of the school in the Nuseirat refugee district as a hideout and for their activities and had planned attacks. According to the army, measures were taken before the attack to reduce the risk to civilians. 

Civilians in permanent danger
Israel repeatedly accuses Hamas of operating from civilian facilities during the Gaza war and thus putting civilians in danger or even deliberately misusing them as shields. Hamas denies this.

Since the beginning of the war, UNRWA school buildings have often served as a refuge for internally displaced persons - also in the hope that Israel does not usually target UN buildings. The aid organization itself hit the headlines in January because Israel claimed that twelve employees were involved in the massacre on 7 October and that the organization as a whole had been infiltrated by Hamas.

Hunger and hardship prevail in the Gaza Strip
The situation in the Gaza Strip remains tense, and the supply situation is also causing headaches. Due to the food shortage, nine out of ten children are affected by life-threatening malnutrition.

"In the Gaza Strip, months of hostilities and restrictions on humanitarian aid have caused the food and health system to collapse, with catastrophic consequences for children and their families," says UNICEF.