Palestinian Factions, Arab Countries Condemn Israel’s ‘Heinous’ School Massacre

A young man mourns over the corpse of a person killed in an Israeli strike on a school used by displaced Palestinians as a temporary shelter in Gaza City on August 10, 2024, that killed more than 90 people. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A young man mourns over the corpse of a person killed in an Israeli strike on a school used by displaced Palestinians as a temporary shelter in Gaza City on August 10, 2024, that killed more than 90 people. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Palestinian Factions, Arab Countries Condemn Israel’s ‘Heinous’ School Massacre

A young man mourns over the corpse of a person killed in an Israeli strike on a school used by displaced Palestinians as a temporary shelter in Gaza City on August 10, 2024, that killed more than 90 people. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A young man mourns over the corpse of a person killed in an Israeli strike on a school used by displaced Palestinians as a temporary shelter in Gaza City on August 10, 2024, that killed more than 90 people. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Israel’s recent airstrike on a Gaza school sheltering displaced people drew a wave of condemnations from Palestinian factions and Arab countries on Saturday.
Palestinian sources had previously reported that more than 100 Palestinians were killed and dozens more were injured in an Israeli airstrike targeting the school in Gaza.
The strikes hit when people sheltering at the school were performing dawn prayers, leading to many casualties, the Hamas media office said in a statement. Medics had not yet been able to reach all the bodies, it said.
Hamas condemned the crime saying the “massacre at the (al-Tabe'een) school in the Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City is a horrific crime that represents a dangerous escalation in the unprecedented series of crimes and massacres in the history of wars, committed in the Gaza Strip by the new Nazis”.
“The escalation of Zionist criminality and widespread violations against civilians would not have continued without American support for the extremist government”, said Hamas in a statement reported by the Palestinian News Agency (Safa).
Moreover, the Fatah Movement said: “The heinous bloody massacre committed by the Israeli occupation forces at al-Tabe’een school...is the peak of terrorism and criminality by the fascist occupation government”.
It added that Israel’s crimes are an unequivocal confirmation of its efforts “to exterminate our people through a policy of cumulative killing and collective massacres”.
For its part, Egypt’s foreign ministry accused Israel of repeatedly committing “large-scale crimes”, and deliberately targeting vast number of unarmed civilians whenever there is an international push for a ceasefire
It said Israel’s bombardment “is an unprecedented disregard of international law”.
Jordanian spokesperson Ambassador Sufyan Qudah expressed Jordan's absolute condemnation of Israel’s ongoing violations of international and humanitarian law, calling for an immediate halt to the aggression on Gaza.
He criticized the lack of a firm international stance to curb Israeli Occupation's actions, which have led to unprecedented human suffering.
Ambassador Qudah also noted that this attack, occurring as mediators attempt to negotiate a ceasefire and prisoner exchange, indicates Israeli Occupation's intent to disrupt these efforts.



Polio Vaccination Starts in North Gaza Despite Obstacles

A medic administers a polio vaccine to a Palestinian girl at the al-Daraj neighborhood clinic in Gaza City on September 10, 2024. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A medic administers a polio vaccine to a Palestinian girl at the al-Daraj neighborhood clinic in Gaza City on September 10, 2024. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Polio Vaccination Starts in North Gaza Despite Obstacles

A medic administers a polio vaccine to a Palestinian girl at the al-Daraj neighborhood clinic in Gaza City on September 10, 2024. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A medic administers a polio vaccine to a Palestinian girl at the al-Daraj neighborhood clinic in Gaza City on September 10, 2024. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

A campaign to vaccinate a final 200,000 children in north Gaza against polio began on Tuesday although health and aid officials said the operation was complicated by access restrictions, evacuation orders and shortages of fuel.

The campaign in north Gaza, the part of the territory hardest hit by Israel's 11-month military offensive against Hamas militants, follows the vaccination of more than 446,000 Palestinian children in central and south Gaza earlier this month.

Medical staff had started administering vaccines in the north despite a dire need for fuel, among other challenges, said Dr. Moussa Abed of the primary care unit in Gaza's health ministry.
Vaccination centers are in areas that are militarily very active, difficult to reach and isolated if things go wrong, said Sam Rose, a deputy director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
"There are some nerves, but we'll have to make it work," he told Reuters by text message.
On Monday, Israel stopped a convoy that included vehicles and fuel for the vaccination campaign as well as a World Health Organization team trying to get to Gaza's Al Shifa hospital and the mission had to be aborted, the WHO's Tarik Jasarevic told reporters in a briefing.
'EXTREMELY DIFFICULT'
Israel also issued an evacuation order in north Gaza, the first in more than two weeks, that included areas that are part of humanitarian pause zones agreed upon for the polio vaccinations, according to a UN update on Monday.
"The centralization of services in the south makes it extremely difficult for us to get fuel, to get access to vaccinations, and to all other logistics," Mahmoud Shalabi of Medical Aid for Palestinians, a UK-based charity, told Reuters via a spokesperson.
"There is still no fuel for the movement of vehicles for vaccination teams in the north."
The campaign to vaccinate some 640,000 children in Gaza began on Sept. 1, following confirmation by the WHO last month that a baby had been partially paralyzed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years.
The campaign in north Gaza aims to conclude a first vaccination round, with a second set to commence after a month.