United Nations leaders accused Israel of violating international humanitarian law on Thursday, saying that six of its workers were among 18 people reported killed by an airstrike on a school in central Gaza sheltering displaced Palestinians.
“What’s happening in Gaza is totally unacceptable,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a post on X hours after Wednesday’s attack on Al-Jaouni school in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
“These dramatic violations of international humanitarian law need to stop now,” he added.
Children were among at least 18 people killed in the airstrike, Gaza’s Civil Defense agency said in a statement, adding that it was the fifth time Israeli forces had targeted the facility during Israel’s almost yearlong offensive in Gaza.
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency, known as UNRWA, which has been operating the school as shelter for displaced Palestinians, said it had been sheltering more than 12,000 people.
The manager of the shelter was among the six workers killed, it said, adding that it was the “highest death toll among our staff in a single incident.”
