A day after Israeli forces bombed a UN school complex in central Gaza that had become a shelter for displaced Palestinians, some of the facts remain unclear or disputed.
Israel said it attacked three classrooms used by between 20 and 30 Palestinian militants, including some who took part in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, and that it was not aware of any civilian casualties. Gaza health authorities said that among the dozens of people killed, many were children and women. Here’s what we know and what we don’t know.
What was bombed?
The multi-story building was one of several that made up UNRWA’s Nuseirat Boys’ Preparatory School. It was one of many schools in Gaza run by the main UN agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants.
Like all schools in the territory, it ceased operating as a school in October, after Hamas led an attack on Israel and Israel began its retaliatory bombing campaign. And like many of them, it was filled with people who, displaced by the war from their homes elsewhere in Gaza, sought refuge in schools, hospitals and other institutions they hoped would be less likely to be bombed.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the U.N. aid agency for Palestinian refugees, said 6,000 people had been living at the school. About three-quarters of Gaza’s roughly 2.2 million residents have fled their homes, many of them multiple times.
The Israeli military has referred to the Nuseirat school as a militant base, saying that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters used three of its classrooms to plan and carry out operations against Israel.
How many died in Nuseirat and who were they?
The Israeli military on Friday released the names of eight Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters it said were killed in the attack, adding to a list released Thursday and bringing the total number to 17.
A military spokesman, Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, said Thursday that he was “not aware of any civilian casualties” as a result of the attack. The military did not respond when asked if that was still the case Friday.
But witnesses, medical staff and Gaza officials said dozens of civilians were killed, many of them children or women.