(StraightNews.org) – The Israeli government has acknowledged an airstrike on a UN-run school in Gaza, which killed dozens of people. An Israeli Defense Force (IDF) plane shot two missiles at the UNWRA school in Nuseirat, which Israeli officials described as a Hamas compound. A statement from the IDF said it had carried out a “precise strike” that killed several Islamist terrorists, including some that participated in atrocities against the Jewish state last October.
Hamas officials claimed most of the dead were women and children, and an initial report from a hospital morgue claimed 14 children and nine women had been killed. This was later amended to three women, nine children, and 21 men.
Reports indicate that the school was being used to house displaced Palestinians and overseen by the controversial United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNWRA).
Last year, Congress halted American funding for UMRWA when it emerged that some of its employees took part in the attacks on Israel on October 7. The US was the organization’s largest donor, providing up to $400 million per year, but payments are paused until at least 2025.
On June 6, media investigators in Gaza claimed that analysis proved the IDF used US-supplied munitions in the school strike. Fragments of American manufactured GBU-39 small-diameter bombs were reportedly identified in the debris and filmed by reporters. Journalists say this is the second time in weeks that American weapons were discernible in the aftermath of IDF strikes. Parts of US munitions were also found after an IDF bombing in Rafah in May.
US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington that he could not confirm the use or otherwise of US-made munitions, and said that was a matter for the Israeli government. Miller explained that the federal government is in touch Israel about the school bombing and that communications between the two countries are transparent. He said he will release more information to the press as he learns it.
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