イスラエル軍がガザの学校空爆、１８人死亡 国連職員も犠牲に

【ガザ市ＡＦＰ＝時事】パレスチナ自治区ガザ中部ヌセイラトの学校が１１日、イスラエル軍の空爆を受け、民間防衛当局によると国連（ＵＮ）職員を含め１８人が死亡した。（写真はイスラエル軍の空爆を受けた学校の中庭を歩く人々。パレスチナ自治区ガザ中部ヌセイラトで）
　空爆されたのはジャウニ学校。昨年１０月にイスラエルとの戦闘が始まって以来、既に数回にわたり攻撃を受けている。
　民間防衛当局の報道担当者によれば、犠牲者には２人の国連パレスチナ難民救済事業機関（ＵＮＲＷＡ）職員が含まれている。このほか少なくとも１８人が負傷した。
　一方ＵＮＲＷＡは、死亡した職員は６人で、一度の攻撃によるＵＮＲＷＡ職員の犠牲者数としては最多だとしている。
　ＵＮＲＷＡはＸ（旧ツイッター）に、「戦争が始まって以来、この学校が攻撃されたのは５回目だ。女性と子ども中心に約１万２０００人が身を寄せている場所だ」と投稿した。
　一方イスラエル軍は、学校敷地内のイスラム組織ハマスの指揮統制所で活動していたテロリストを標的に「精密攻撃」を実行したと説明している。攻撃の成果や標的の身元については示していない。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/09/12-17:56）

An Israeli air strike hit a school in central Gaza on Wednesday, with the Hamas-run territory's civil defence agency reporting that 18 people were killed, including UN staffers, and the military saying it had targeted militants.
The Al-Jawni school in Nuseirat, already hit several times during the war, was struck again on Wednesday, killing 18 people, including two members of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), said Gaza's civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal.
UNRWA gave the higher figure of six staffers killed at the Nuseirat school-turned-shelter, calling it the highest death toll among its team in a single incident.
This school has been hit five times since the war began. It is home to around 12,000 displaced people, mainly women and children, the UN agency separately posted on X. No one is safe in Gaza.
UN chief Antonio Guterres deplored the killings, which he also said included six UNRWA colleagues.
What's happening in Gaza is totally unacceptable, he wrote on social media platform X.
These dramatic violations of international humanitarian law need to stop now.
Gaza's civil defence agency said at least 18 other people were wounded in the school bombing.
AFP could not independently verify the toll, which the agency said included several women and children.
Israel's military said its air force had conducted a precise strike on terrorists who were operating inside a Hamas command-and-control centre on the grounds of Al-Jawni, without elaborating on the outcome or the identities of those targeted.
Most of the people took refuge in schools and the schools were bombed, said Basil Amarneh from Gaza's Al-Aqsa hospital, where children were arriving in the arms of medics.
Where will people go?
- Strikes on schools -
The vast majority of the Gaza Strip's 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once by the war, triggered by Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, with many seeking safety in schools.
Israeli forces have struck several such schools in recent months, saying Palestinian militants were operating there and hiding among displaced civilians -- charges denied by Hamas.
In July, at least 16 people were killed in an air strike on the Al-Jawni facility that Israel said had targeted terrorists.
Israel's military offensive since the war began on October 7 has killed at least 41,084 people in Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry. The UN rights office says most of the dead are women and children.
The October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which also includes hostages killed in captivity.
Israel's military meanwhile reported the deaths of two soldiers late Tuesday when an army helicopter crashed in the area of Gaza's southern city of Rafah.
The military announced on Wednesday that the helicopter had crashed while landing and that another eight soldiers were injured.
The aircraft had been on a life-saving operation to evacuate a wounded soldier when it crashed, Major General Tomer Bar said in a statement.
An investigative committee has been appointed to investigate the details of the crash, he said, and called it an operational accident.
The latest deaths bring the Israeli military's losses in the Gaza campaign to 344 since its ground offensive began on October 27.