2023 al-Fakhoora School airstrikes | |
---|---|
Part of the Jabalia refugee camp airstrikes | |
Location | Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza |
Date |
|
Target | al-Fakhoora school |
Attack type | Airstrike |
Deaths | 70+ |
Injured | 70 |
Perpetrators | Israel |
Israel conducted two airstrikes on the al-Fakhoora school in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, which was being used as a shelter by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNRWA). [1] On 4 November 2023, an Israeli airstrike killed at least 15 people and injured 70. [2]
An Israeli missile fell on al-Fukhora school in the morning of 4 November, when thousands of people were living in the school at the time of the attack. [1] [3]
At least 15 people were killed and 70 injured in the attack. Children are also among the dead. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that dozens more were injured. [3] [1]
Arab leaders publicly pressed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to ensure an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. [4] However, Blinken pushed back, saying the ceasefire would only allow Hamas to regroup. [4]
A second airstrike on the school occurred in the early hours of the morning on 18 November. Journalists on the scene reported dead bodies everywhere, suggesting the strike may have been an Israeli message to civilians to flee to the southern Gaza Strip. [5] A video clip surfacing following what has been described as a "massacre" depicts a man walking through several rooms where dozens of corpses can be seen, and distress can be heard throughout the school. [6]
The second strike killed at least 50 people. [7]
Martin Griffiths stated the strike was "tragic news" and that "Shelters are a place for safety. Schools are a place for learning." [7] Tamara Alrifai, a spokesperson for UNRWA, stated, "What we're seeing is another one of these horrific incidents, where civilians, people who sought shelter in a protected UN building, are paying the price." [5] The IDF stated it had killed multiple "terrorists." [8] Philippe Lazzarini stated, "These attacks cannot become commonplace." [9] The Qatar Foreign Ministry stated that "an urgent international investigation and independent investigators to probe Israel's targeting of schools and hospitals in Gaza" were needed. [10]
Maghazi is a Palestinian refugee camp located in the Deir al-Balah Governorate in the central Gaza Strip. It was established in 1949. The camp is built on 559 dunums (0.6 km2). In July 2023, the UNRWA reported its population to be 33,000. During the first months of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, its population tripled and faced repeated airstrikes by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
The al-Fakhura school incident was an Israeli military strike that took place during the Gaza War on 6 January 2009 near a United Nations-run school in the Jabalia Camp in the Gaza Strip. According to the UN and several non-governmental organizations (NGOs), more than 40 people were killed. Israel reported the death toll as nine Hamas militants and three noncombatants with senior IDF officers stating that the death toll published by Hamas was "grossly exaggerated". Israel stated it fired on the school in response to militant gunfire believed to be coming from al-Fakhura. A UN inquiry said that there was no firing from within the school and there were no explosives within the school, but could not establish if militants fired from the vicinity of the school.
The 2012 Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip was a military operation carried out in the Gaza Strip by the Israel Defense Forces starting on 14 November 2012, following rocket attacks on Israeli territory launched from Gaza during the preceding days.
The 2014 Gaza War, also known as Operation Protective Edge, and Battle of the Withered Grain, was a military operation launched by Israel on 8 July 2014 in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory that has been governed by Hamas since 2007. Following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank by Hamas-affiliated Palestinian militants, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) initiated Operation Brother's Keeper, in which some 350 Palestinians, including nearly all of the active Hamas militants in the West Bank, were arrested. Hamas subsequently fired a greater number of rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip, triggering a seven-week-long conflict between the two sides. It was one of the deadliest outbreaks of open conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in decades. The combination of Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli airstrikes resulted in over two thousand deaths, the vast majority of which were Gazan Palestinians. This includes a total of six Israeli civilians who were killed as a result of the conflict.
The following is a timeline of the 2014 Gaza War. Over 2014, Palestinians suffered the highest number of civilian casualties since the Six-Day War in 1967, according to a United Nations report, given the July–August conflict, and rising tolls in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. A spike in Israeli casualties also occurred. 2,256 Palestinians and 85 Israelis died, while 17,125 Palestinians, and 2,639 Israelis suffered injuries.
A major outbreak of violence in the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict commenced on 10 May 2021, though disturbances took place earlier, and continued until a ceasefire came into effect on 21 May. It was marked by protests and police riot control, rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip. The crisis was triggered on 6 May, when Palestinians in East Jerusalem began protesting over an anticipated decision of the Supreme Court of Israel on the eviction of six Palestinian families in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Under international law, the area, effectively annexed by Israel in 1980, is a part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank; On 7 May, according to Israel's Channel 12, Palestinians threw stones at Israeli police forces, who then stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound using tear gas, rubber bullets, and stun grenades. The crisis prompted protests around the world as well as official reactions from world leaders.
The year 2023 in Israel was defined first by wide-scale protests against a proposed judicial reform, and then by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, which led to a war and to Israel invading the Gaza Strip.
Events in 2023 in the Palestinian territories.
From 9 October 2023, as part of the Israel–Hamas war, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has conducted airstrikes in Jabalia refugee camp, claiming it was a stronghold for Hamas and other militant groups.
The Jabalia refugee camp, which has been the target of multiple Israeli air strikes during the Israel–Hamas war, was struck again on 31 October, killing at least 50 Palestinians and trapping more than a hundred beneath the rubble, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The Indonesia Hospital said most casualties were women and children. Gaza Interior Ministry stated the camp had been "completely destroyed," with preliminary estimates of about 400 wounded or dead. IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari confirmed that Israeli fighter jets attacked the refugee camp, and stated that the attack killed a Hamas commander who lead the 7 October attacks, dozens of Palestinian militants, and destroyed Palestinian tunnels. Hamas denied the presence of any commander and said Israel was using these claims as an excuse for the attack.
The siege of Gaza City began on 2 November 2023, when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) surrounded Gaza City, amid the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, which was a counterattack to the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. Gaza City is the most populated city in the Gaza Strip and the battle started on 30 October 2023, when Israel and Hamas clashed in Gaza City. According to Oxfam, there are about 500,000 Palestinians, along with 200 Israelis and other captives, currently trapped in a "siege within a siege" in northern Gaza.
Since the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has conducted numerous airstrikes in densely populated Palestinian refugee camps in both the Gaza Strip and West Bank as part of its military operations in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war. Al-Maghazi refugee camp was struck several times.
Since the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has conducted numerous airstrikes in densely populated Palestinian refugee camps in both the Gaza Strip and West Bank as part of its military operations in the Israel–Hamas war.
Since the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has conducted numerous airstrikes on more than 200 educational facilities, including universities, in the Gaza Strip as part of its military operations in the Israel–Hamas war. The IDF claims such airstrikes are the result of the placement of military infrastructure and rocket launching from civilian areas, including schools. By late-March 2024, the United Nations recorded more than 200 Israeli attacks on schools in Gaza, with at least 53 schools totally destroyed.
Events in 2024 in the Palestinian territories.
The following is a list of events during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 2024.
The bombing of the Gaza Strip is an ongoing aerial bombardment campaign on the Gaza Strip by the Israeli Air Force during the Israel–Hamas war. During the bombing, Israeli airstrikes damaged Palestinian refugee camps, schools, hospitals, mosques, churches, and civilian infrastructure.