200 Killed in Israeli Massacre at UNRWA School Housing Displaced Palestinians in Gaza

 Smoke billows following Israeli airstrikes on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on November 18, 2023, amid the continuing battles between Israel and the militant group Hamas. (AFP)
Smoke billows following Israeli airstrikes on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on November 18, 2023, amid the continuing battles between Israel and the militant group Hamas. (AFP)
TT
20

200 Killed in Israeli Massacre at UNRWA School Housing Displaced Palestinians in Gaza

 Smoke billows following Israeli airstrikes on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on November 18, 2023, amid the continuing battles between Israel and the militant group Hamas. (AFP)
Smoke billows following Israeli airstrikes on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on November 18, 2023, amid the continuing battles between Israel and the militant group Hamas. (AFP)

Palestinian television reported on Saturday that 200 people were killed in an Israeli strike on an UNRWA school housing people who were displaced from the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

The head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) said on Saturday it had received "horrifying" images and footage of scores of people killed and injured in an attack on the al-Fakhoura school.

"These attacks cannot become commonplace, they must stop. A humanitarian ceasefire cannot wait any longer," UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said on social media platform X.

Social media videos -- which AFP was unable to immediately verify -- showed bodies covered in blood and dust on the floor of a building, where mattresses had been wedged under school tables in Jabalia, the Palestinian territory's biggest refugee camp.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in response to the October 7 attacks which Israeli officials say killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians in southern Israel, and saw about 240 people taken hostage.

The army's relentless air and ground campaign has since killed 12,000 people, including 5,000 children, according to the Hamas government which has ruled Gaza since 2007.

According to UN figures, some 1.6 million people have been displaced inside Gaza by six weeks of fighting.

A separate strike Saturday on another building in Jabalia camp killed 32 people from the same family, 19 of them children, the official said. The ministry released a list of 32 members of the Abu Habal family it said had died.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the two strikes.

Israel has told Palestinians to move from north Gaza for their safety, but deadly air strikes continued to hit central and southern areas of the narrow coastal territory.

On Saturday hundreds of people fled on foot after the director of Gaza's main hospital said the Israeli army ordered evacuation of the facility where some 2,000 people were trapped.

Columns of sick and injured -- some of them amputees -- were seen making their way out of Al-Shifa hospital towards the seafront without ambulances along with displaced people, doctors and nurses, as loud explosions were heard around the facility.

On the way, an AFP journalist saw at least 15 bodies, some in advanced stages of decomposition, along a road lined by badly damaged shops and overturned vehicles, as Israeli drones buzzed overhead.

The Hamas-run health ministry said 120 wounded, along with an unspecified number of premature babies, were still at Al-Shifa hospital that has become the focus of the recent fighting.

Israel has been pressing military operations inside the hospital, searching for the Hamas operations center it says lies under the sprawling complex -- a charge Hamas denies.

'Patients cannot leave'

In Gaza City, Israeli troops had called over loudspeakers to evacuate Al-Shifa "in the next hour", an AFP journalist at the hospital reported.

They also called the hospital's director, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, telling him to ensure "the evacuation of patients, wounded, the displaced and medical staff, and that they should move on foot towards the seafront", he said.

But Israel's army denied ordering the evacuation, saying instead it had "acceded to the request of the director" to allow more civilians to leave.

According to Ahmed El Mokhallalati, a doctor at the hospital, "most of the medical staff and patients had left" but he was staying at Al-Shifa along with five other doctors.

Despite the evacuation order, "many patients cannot leave the hospital as they are in the ICU beds or the baby incubators," Mokhallalati said on X, formerly Twitter.

The United Nations estimated 2,300 patients, staff and displaced Palestinians were sheltering at Al-Shifa before Israeli troops entered it on Wednesday.

Israel has imposed a siege on Gaza, allowing just a trickle of aid in from Egypt but barring most shipments of fuel over concerns Hamas could divert supplies for military purposes.

A first consignment of fuel entered Gaza after Israel's war cabinet bowed to pressure from its ally the United States and agreed to let in two diesel tankers a day.

Fuel 'when hostages are released'

A two-day blackout caused by fuel shortages ended after a first delivery arrived from Egypt late Friday, but UN officials continued to plead for a ceasefire, warning no part of Gaza is safe.

A strike on a residential building in southern Gaza killed 26 people, the director of the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis said.

"I was asleep and we were surprised by the strike. At least 20 bombs were dropped," Imed al-Mubasher, 45, told AFP.

His wife Sabrin Mussa said she "saw human remains everywhere" and screamed for help.

The UN said Israel had agreed to allow in 60,000 liters (16,000 gallons) of fuel daily from Egypt starting Saturday, but warned it was little more than a third of what is needed to keep hospitals, water and sanitation facilities running.

Thomas White of UNRWA said Israel had "only permitted 50 percent of the daily fuel requirement for lifesaving humanitarian aid".

US President Joe Biden's chief adviser for the Middle East said more fuel deliveries and a potential "significant pause" in the fighting both depend of the release of hostages.

"The surge in humanitarian relief, the surge in fuel, the pause... will come when hostages are released," Brett McGurk told a security conference in Bahrain.

Israel has come under scrutiny for targeting hospitals in north Gaza, but says the facilities are being used by Hamas -- a claim rejected by the group and medical staff.

More than half of Gaza's hospitals are no longer functional due to combat, damage or shortages, and people are waiting four to six hours for half the normal portion of bread.

The military says it has found rifles, ammunition, explosives and the entrance to a tunnel shaft at the Al-Shifa hospital complex, claims that cannot be independently verified.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said, without providing details, that there were "strong indications" hostages may have been held there.

Israel has not recovered hostages at the hospital but said it found not far away the bodies of two kidnapped women including a soldier.



War Shakes Middle East Airports, Passengers Held Hostage

Passengers wait at Beirut airport amid disruptions caused by Israeli-Iranian conflict (EPA)
Passengers wait at Beirut airport amid disruptions caused by Israeli-Iranian conflict (EPA)
TT
20

War Shakes Middle East Airports, Passengers Held Hostage

Passengers wait at Beirut airport amid disruptions caused by Israeli-Iranian conflict (EPA)
Passengers wait at Beirut airport amid disruptions caused by Israeli-Iranian conflict (EPA)

The Israeli-Iranian war has severely disrupted air traffic across the Middle East, causing widespread airport closures and forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights.

Travelers have been left stranded or forced to reroute their journeys amid altered takeoff and landing schedules, with many airports affected by military use of their airspace by both Tel Aviv and Tehran for warplanes, missiles, and drones.

Thousands of passengers have had to substitute flights with land or sea travel to avoid danger or endure long waits for alternate air transport.

Since the Israeli airstrikes on Iran that began in the early hours of last Friday, followed by Iran’s retaliatory drone and missile attacks, the airspace over Israel, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq has been closed.

Aviation sources reported that more than 650 flights bound for Europe were canceled. Gulf and European carriers have suspended flights to countries caught in the conflict zone.

Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that airlines are now using safer flight routes, deliberately avoiding Iraqi, Syrian, Jordanian, and Lebanese airspace, as well as the fully closed skies of Israel and Iran.

Some carriers operating emergency flights to Beirut, Amman, and Egypt are following strict safety protocols.

Flights departing Beirut airport are routed westward over the Mediterranean Sea toward Cyprus and then Greece, before continuing to Europe or the Gulf, deliberately avoiding Lebanese, Syrian, and Iraqi airspace—a sharp contrast to pre-conflict routes.

Several Arab and European airlines, including Emirates, flydubai, Etihad, Air France, Transavia, Lufthansa, Ethiopian Airlines, Turkish Airlines, and Pegasus, continue to suspend flights to the region. The disruption has hit operations at Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport, which experienced chaos in the initial days of the war and widespread passenger panic.

However, the airport has since begun stabilizing. Amin Jaber, Director General of Civil Aviation at Rafic Hariri Airport, said the facility “has overcome the initial disruption quickly by implementing swift solutions for stranded travelers.”

He added that a newly formed crisis management committee is closely monitoring risks hour by hour to keep flights clear of security threats.

Jaber confirmed that the conflict “has forced the crisis committee to adopt multiple flight paths for arrivals and departures at Rafic Hariri Airport.”

“Due to security concerns, we rely on the western runway, which is the safest, and use Cypriot airspace to steer aircraft away from missile threats. Whenever missile launches are detected, Lebanese airspace is immediately closed to all flights,” Jaber added.

The disruptions seen at Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport mirror the wider chaos across the region’s airports. Jaber said all airlines operating arrivals and departures at Beirut have comprehensive risk assessments in place.

Beirut airport experienced significant turmoil during the first two days of the conflict, with hundreds of passengers forced to wait indefinitely after numerous flight cancellations and schedule changes.

Many opted to leave the airport and return to the city amid the uncertainty. Jaber noted that conditions have since improved both at Beirut and other airports that have partially suspended operations.

Before any civilian aircraft takes off or lands, airport authorities and airlines ensure no immediate threats jeopardize the safety of planes or passengers.

Former Middle East Airlines (MEA) pilot Mohammad Aziz told Asharq Al-Awsat that flight safety responsibility rests not with pilots alone, but with the risk assessment committees, civil aviation authorities, airport management, and air traffic control towers guiding pilots during flight.

Aziz revealed that planes are equipped with large fuel reserves allowing extended flight time to accommodate emergencies requiring route changes or longer airborne holding patterns.

Currently serving as a safety and security advisor to MEA’s chairman, Captain Aziz highlighted that Rafic Hariri Airport is among the least vulnerable to missile threats because its flight paths are directed west and north. He warned, however, that the greatest danger lies in flights over Syrian territory.

“Despite this,” Aziz said, “Beirut airport management exercises the utmost caution. The control tower and airport authorities remain on high alert, maintaining constant communication with pilots to reroute or divert flights to alternate airports if evolving conditions threaten aircraft and passengers.”