Devastation in Gaza
Airstrikes hit multiple locations in Gaza, including a school being used as a temporary shelter for displaced people, leaving at least 54 dead.
In the early hours of Monday, May 26, 2024, Israel launched airstrikes on several areas in Gaza. One of the targets was a school in Gaza City, the Fahmi al-Jarjawi school, which was serving as a refuge for hundreds of Palestinians who had fled from the town of Beit Lahia. The school was hit, resulting in the deaths of at least 35 people.
The Gaza Civil Defense, run by Hamas, reported that they had retrieved many bodies, including those of children, from the school. The airstrikes caused fires in two classrooms that were being used as living quarters for displaced people.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) stated that they had targeted a command center of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, claiming that the location was being used to plan attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers, with Gaza civilians being used as human shields.
Videos shared online showed parts of the school building on fire. Faris Afana, the director of the emergency services office in northern Gaza, said that when rescue teams arrived, they found three classrooms ablaze, with women and children trapped inside, screaming for help, but they were unable to reach them due to the fire.
Local media in Gaza reported that Mohammed al-Kazaiah, the head of the investigative unit of the Hamas police in northern Gaza, was killed along with his wife and children in the attack.
In a separate incident, an Israeli airstrike hit a house in the town of Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, killing 19 people. The IDF has not commented on this incident.
These attacks are part of a larger Israeli operation in northern Gaza, which has intensified over the past week. The IDF claims to have struck over 200 targets in Gaza in the past 48 hours.
Source: BBC