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.



EU Urges Immediate Halt to Israel-Hezbollah War

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
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EU Urges Immediate Halt to Israel-Hezbollah War

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)

Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell called for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war while on a visit to Lebanon on Sunday, as the group claimed attacks deep into Israel.  

The Israeli military said Iran-backed Hezbollah fired around 160 projectiles into Israel during the day. Some of them were intercepted but others caused damage to houses in central Israel, according to AFP images.  

A day after the health ministry said Israeli strikes on Beirut and across Lebanon killed 84 people, state media reported two strikes on Sunday on the capital's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.

Israel's military said it had attacked "headquarters" of the group "hidden within civilian structures" in south Beirut.

War between Israel and Hezbollah escalated in late September, nearly a year after the group began launching strikes in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas following that group's October 7 attack on Israel.

The conflict has killed at least 3,754 people in Lebanon since October 2023, according to the health ministry, most of them since September.  

On the Israeli side, authorities say at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians have been killed.  

Earlier this week, US special envoy Amos Hochstein said in Lebanon that a truce deal was "within our grasp" and then headed to Israel for talks with officials there.  

In the Lebanese capital, Borrell held talks with parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, who has led mediation efforts on behalf of ally Hezbollah.

"We see only one possible way ahead: an immediate ceasefire and the full implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701," Borrell said.  

"Lebanon is on the brink of collapse", he warned.  

Under Resolution 1701, which ended the last Hezbollah-Israel war of 2006, Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only armed forces present in the southern border area.  

The resolution also called for Israel to withdraw troops from Lebanon, and reiterated earlier calls for "disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon."