"Apocalyptic": 40 Killed in Israeli Airstrike on U.N. School Sheltering Palestinians in Gaza

this news is funded by viewers like you please support our work at democracynow.org and Israeli air strike on a school Sheltering displaced Palestinians in the new sedat refugee camp in central Gaza has killed at least 40 people including 14 children according to the government media office in Gaza nearly 80 Palestinians were also wounded in the pre- dawn strike on the ardi school which is run by the United Nations Agency for pal Palestinian refugees known by its acronym unoa the Israeli military claimed it targeted Hamas militants operating in the school but provided no evidence to back up its claim inw schools across Gaza have functioned his shelters for displac Palestinians since the start of Israel's war on Gaza last week Israeli air strikes hit close to an unra facility in the southern city of RFA where tens of thousands had sought shelter setting tents of Blaze and killing at least 45 people over 36,600 people have been killed in Israeli military air attacks in Gaza over the past 8 months with over 83,00 injured for more we're joined by Ina spokesperson Tamara Al rafay she joins us from Aman Jordan welcome back to democracy Now tomara can you explain what happened at about what was it about 1:30 in the morning Gaza time yes hi Amy and thank you so much for giving unra always a space and a platform on Democracy Now what we understood from our colleagues in Gaza given how patchy telecommunication is is that indeed an Israeli strike hit one of our shelters originally this was a school but since the beginning of the war this school in nsat in the middle part of Gaza like many many other un schools across the Gaza Strip have housed people who have been repeatedly displaced as the conflict in Gaza evolve um EV evicting them and forcing them to leave their homes leave loved ones and leave their their things behind the strike happened around 2 am. and from what we understand there are between 35 and 45 people killed many of them are children we also um uh remind that this being an un shelter up to 6,000 people had sought refuge and safety inside that school just like many many other displaced people of the 2 million uh population of Gaza have been seeking a safe haven but it hasn't been safe inside unra shelters I say that it's not safe because um more than 170 unra buildings most of them serving as shelters have been hit since the beginning of the war killing more than 450 people and by the way we have lost unra has lost so far 193 of my colleagues all of them killed since the beginning of this War I wanted to go to a post on social media uh where Israeli military spokesperson Peter larner said Israel intentionally targeted the school and wrote quote we assess that 20 to 30 terrorists were in the compound at the time of the strike we targeted Precision strikes on the specific class classrooms what were the terrorists doing in a un School the compound was used for staging attacks and as a forward operating base and quote your response toara we had 6,000 people who had been displaced several times since the war started in October Sheltering in our schools most of them more than half of them were women and children we've been hearing about Precision strikes and um about report rep s that some of the UN or un installations have been used by uh Palestinian armed groups we hear about this every time a strike kills scores of civilians in or near our buildings international law is clear International humanitarian law calls for the protection of civilians of people of women of children during this conflict the UN has paid the highest toll ever in such a short period 8 months is not not short but 193 unra staff killed and 450 people in our shelters is huge and what happened in Rafa last week with the um Israeli air strike that the Israeli military did not deny uh that led to the deaths of 45 at least Palestinians who were in this tent camp who had fled there because they were told that this area would be safe exactly what you're saying Amy since the beginning of this war gazans have been issued what the Israeli government calls evacuation orders in reality these are orders for forced displacement so the Sea of people in Gaza has moved since the beginning of the conflict from the north of the Gaza Strip or Gaza City to the middle areas canun um darl balah and canun and then they were forced to move again in the direction of the conflict to ra where people were told that they would be safe until last month ra housed 1.5 million people all of them displaced several times and all of them were told that if you go to raah you would be safe then as of the 6th of May the Israeli uh government decided uh on a land a ground invasion of RA therefore pushing people to move again many of them had nowhere left to go the tents became very very rare in ra no one had personal belongings but mostly there was nowhere safe because strikes continues aerial bombing continued so there was nowhere safe there still is nowhere safe and what happened to these people in the tent is cat is apocalyptic like my colleagues from msf say and a reminder that nowhere is safe in Gaza the issue of hunger um in uh the UN world food program has issued a dire warning stating quote over 1 million people half the population of Gaza are expected to face death and starvation by mid July if the war doesn't end um if you can talk about uh what Ina has been able to do in helping to relieve the suffering given um how many countries have pulled out a funding of Ina uh because Israel uh said that uh Ina some of the workers had been tied to the October 7th attack though not presenting any evidence leading to a number of countries restoring funding to un though the US hasn't so let's start with a good news all of the 16 countries that has suspended funding resumed funding to unra except the US and the UK the US and the UK though are big donors to unra so that leaves us with a huge funding gap having said that we've been receiving a lot of support from private individuals private foundations celebrities in a a sign of acknowledgement to the Irreplaceable role that unra has been playing since the beginning of the conflict unra is the largest humanitarian operation we also cooperate very closely with other un agencies particularly the world food program on Distributing food the distribution of food of wheat flour of clean drinking water has not stopped since the beginning of the war despite extremely challenging humanitarian circumstances that include very very Hatchy opening of The Crossings the land Crossings whether it's ra from the Egyptian side or k Abu K Shalom from the side of Israel land Crossings are the safest and the fastest ways to get Aid into the Gaza Strip we've all been discussing for the longest time how many trucks a day have gone in I want to say that the last month has been awful most of the days in May have seen zero trucks going in for the UN and on the best day we've seen 77 trucks 77 trucks with food non food mattresses tents uh clean water medicines medical supplies for a population of nearly two million people or a bit over two million completely under siege since the latest military operations started in May so yes unra um is has long warned from a malnutrition and an emminent famine UNICEF just recently said that n out of 10 children in Gaza fall way below their needed calorie intake daily and now with a scorching heat of nearly 90 degrees Fahrenheit in Gaza lack of clean drinking water we have started to see infants dying of dehydration finally uh this breaking news the United States and 16 other countries um calling on Israel and Hamas to accept the latest ceasefire hostage deal not clear exactly what the details are uh what would this mean in Gaza right now a ceasefire is what everyone in Gaza needs right now just to take a breath and have some rest bite but in addition to the ceasefire there has to be a much increased flow of humanitarian assistance going in and there has to be a plan to resume some sense of normality in the Gaza Strip particularly for traumatized children and for that a resumption of any kind of learning will help the children not only lag behind but it will also help restore some kind of mental well-being a ceasefire is what everyone needs in Gaza now democracy Now is funded by viewers like you please give today at democracynow.org

Channel: Democracy Now!

Views: 66,964

Keywords: Democracy Now, Amy Goodman, News, Politics, democracynow, Independent Media, Breaking News, World News

Id: iH75Orqzhdg

Length: 10min 21sec (621 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 06 2024