Authorities in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory controlled by Hamas, announced to Agence France-Presse on Monday (12) that 75 bodies of victims of the Israeli bombing of a school in Gaza City last Saturday (10) had been identified.
“There were 93 dead in the Tabeen school, including 11 children and six women. Seventy-five have been identified and we have their names,” Palestinian civil defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal told AFP. “The others have not been identified because the bodies are scattered and some were burned in the bombing.”
Dr. Amjad Aliwa, from Al-Ahli Hospital, which received victims of the attack, confirmed the authorities’ assessment. “There are still injured bodies that are difficult to identify. Moreover, families have been displaced to the south and have not been able to identify their loved ones,” he added.
As with many other UN headquarters in Gaza, the compound was used as a shelter for people displaced by the conflict. The building was home to around 350 families at the time of the attack, which drew condemnation from several countries, including Brazil.
“Brazil expresses its deep solidarity with the families of the victims and the Government and people of the State of Palestine. It recalls the need for Israel, in accordance with international humanitarian law, to act on the basis of the principle of proportionality, and to take the necessary measures to achieve the protection of the civilian population in the occupied territories,” Itamaraty said in a statement on Saturday.
Tel Aviv claims the site was used as a Hamas command center, and after the attack, it cast doubt on the number of dead reported by the Palestinians, adding that among the dead were 19 terrorists – Hamas describes all those killed as “martyrs.” It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians.
The Israeli military said Monday it had identified 31 fighters from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two militant groups in the Gaza Strip, among those killed. The figures could not be independently verified.
