At least 22 people were reported killed in the school in Nusirat where the attack took place. The school has been selected as the facility for the second phase of the polio vaccination drive that will begin on Monday.
Louise Wateridge, spokesman for UNRWA, the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees, told UN News that the attack was “one of many in Gaza.”
“These are just people taking shelter. These people are trying to find some safe place in the Gaza Strip, some place where they can sleep in peace, but there is no safe place in the Gaza Strip.”
Israel has attacked more than 140 UNRWA schools since the start of the Gaza war.
Images obtained by UNRWA on Monday show a search for any survivors buried in the ash and melted metal structures of the destroyed camp at the Al Aqsa Hospital complex.
Video footage from the scene of the attack showed huge flames and smoke billowing from rows of tents, with emergency workers carrying a blanket wrapped in a charred tent from the wreckage.
Spokesman Louise Wateridge said she spoke to a colleague in the school compound that was targeted by the Israeli attack, who said, “We were lucky to survive, there was fire everywhere and the tent we were sleeping in was burnt to ashes. It’s a horrible sight here.”
‘Humanity must be saved’
“Another night of horrific terror in the central region… humanity must survive,” said UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini.
…to be continued…