Israel struck a school in central Gaza on Saturday, and the Hamas-run health ministry reported that the attack injured 100 and killed at least 30 Palestinians. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Telegram that the school was being used as a Hamas command and control center and that the building was being used to store large quantities of weapons to use against Israel. According to the IDF, “numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of appropriate munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence.”
Since the attack, a video of the aftermath of the attack has been verified by several major news outlets. The video appears to show children among the victims of the strike. Hamas has disputed the IDF’s claims that the school was a Command and Control center. They also accused Israel of killing civilians and displacing women and children.
The strike on the Deir al-Balah school is the latest in the campaign by the IDF in and around Khan Younis, a region in southern Gaza where Israel hopes to wipe out Hamas leadership. The Gaza Civil Defense Service says that 170 people have been killed in the campaign since it began on Monday. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 190,000 Palestinians have been displaced from Khan Younis as a result of the military operations. Meanwhile, the IDF has ordered civilians to relocate to an “adjusted humanitarian area” in al-Mawasi.
The practices of the IDF during the Israel-Hamas war have been criticized for an alleged lack of proportionality and military necessity. In June, a UN commission released a report accusing Israel and Hamas of war crimes. Additionally, South Africa opened a genocide case against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which is ongoing. Israel has denied war crimes and genocide accusations.
The intentional attack of hospitals, and organizations engaged in humanitarian assistance under the Charter of the United Nations, is considered a war crime under Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. It is also illegal under international law to target civilians or to not distinguish between civilians and military targets.
An exception under the Rome Statute does permit attacks against hospitals in limited circumstances, provided that they are legitimate military objectives. A military objective is “any object which by its nature, location, purpose or use makes an effective contribution to military action and whose total or partial destruction, capture or neutralization, in the circumstances ruling at the time, offers a definite military advantage.” This exception does not apply to attacks against humanitarian personnel and institutions.
