![Gaza: controversy over the bombing of a school by Israel Gaza: controversy over the bombing of a school by Israel](https://media.lesechos.com/api/v1/images/view/6664cf1d5ef49c713b43cdc6/1280x720/01101705438820-web-tete.jpg)
How many children and women were killed in Thursday’s Israeli bombing of a UN school in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip? It is difficult to comment on the number of “collateral victims” of this operation. The Israeli army has revealed the identities of nine “terrorists” killed while armed in three classrooms. In total, the IDF estimates the number of deaths at 20 to 30, without specifying whether the victims include civilians. UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, speaks of at least 35 killed, while Hamas says 14 children and nine women were killed, not to mention 41 injured.
For the Jerusalem Post, a rather right-wing Israeli daily, the fact that the Israeli army is not able to be more precise about the toll would tend to prove that children were indeed killed. In defense, army spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari asserts that “maximum precautions were taken to avoid civilians being affected” and added that the attack had been repelled until twice precisely to take this human factor into account. He justified this operation carried out “precisely on the basis of very concrete information” by explaining that the “terrorists” targeted were preparing attacks from the premises of this school, and that some of them were involved in the massacres. committed by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, a more radical organization, on October 7 in southern Israel.
A time bomb “
“We have thus blocked a time bomb,” added the spokesperson, recalling that Hamas and Islamic Jihad very frequently use schools, hospitals, UN buildings and mosques as bases for their military operations. .
The risks taken, however, were very significant. According to an UNRWA official, all of the school buildings served as a refuge for 6,000 Palestinian civilians fleeing the fighting. “The attack launched was totally disproportionate. Even assuming that there were (Palestinian) fighters in the establishment, the death toll is far too high for such an operation to be considered legal” from the point of view of international law on war, underlined this manager.
Blacklist
Coincidence of the calendar Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the UN announced to the military attaché of the Israeli embassy in Washington that Israel would find itself on the black list established by Virginia Gamba, its representative for children’s issues and military conflicts, Ynet, Israel’s most popular news site, revealed. This list of countries and organizations is updated each year in a report submitted to the Security Council. Result: Israel will find itself in the same category as Russia, but also as Daesh or Al Qaeda. Until now, Israel has never been included in this list, which risks, according to commentators, encouraging countries to decree embargoes and other boycotts against the Jewish state.
However, it was precisely at this difficult moment that fault lines appeared between Israel and the United States, the Jewish state’s greatest ally at the UN. Gilad Erdan, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, said that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government rejected several points of a resolution on a six-week ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that Washington is due to present Monday to the ‘UN. However, this text was presented last week by President Joe Biden who claimed to have revealed a plan approved in secret by the Israeli government. The point of dispute concerns a quarrel of words over whether to discuss a ceasefire or an end to the fighting. In short, Israel risks finding itself more isolated than ever in this diplomatic battle.