Israel’s war on Gaza updates: Grief as dozens killed in school attack

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To learn more about the Israeli attack on a school in Gaza and global reactions to the latest mass killing of civilians, read our piece here.

To find out more about how the Israeli military uses the sonic boom as a weapon in its psychological warfare against Lebanon, read this.

And you can always find all our latest coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza, here.

We will be closing this live page shortly but before we do, here’s a quick recap of the day’s main developments:

• More than 100 people have been killed after the Israeli military dropped three bombs on a school in northern Gaza. Israel said, without giving evidence, that it killed 19 Hamas and PIJ fighters in the attack.
• Algeria requested an urgent and open UN Security Council meeting for Tuesday to discuss the attack on the school, which the UN says is at least the 21st to be hit in the past 40 days.
• The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for Khan Younis in southern Gaza, where up to 70,000 Palestinians have already been forcibly displaced due to previous orders.
• Jordan signalled that it would not let projectiles from any parties pass through its airspace as the world continues to watch for an Iran-led retaliation on Israel for the assassination of Haniyeh in Tehran.
• Hezbollah launched swarms of explosive-laden drones at northern Israel which inflicted damage but no casualties in response to the assassination of the Hamas official. The Israeli military bombed areas across southern Lebanon.
• Israeli protesters once more gathered for weekly demonstrations to call for a Gaza ceasefire deal that would bring captives home and criticise the government of Benjamin Netanyahu.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have once more protested in Jordan after the Israeli military attack on the al-Tabin school which killed about 100 Palestinians.

مظاهرة في العاصمة الأردنية عمّان دعما لغزة وتنديدا بمجزرة المصلين #حرب_غزة #فيديو pic.twitter.com/A9xv2LpTrV

— الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) August 10, 2024

Translation: Demonstration in the Jordanian capital Amman in support of Gaza and condemnation of the massacre of worshippers.

The Israeli military has expanded its evacuation orders for displaced Palestinians in the southern city of Khan Younis.

Avichay Adraee, the Arabic-language spokesperson for the military, published an updated colour-coded map of blocks that Palestinians are supposed to evacuate immediately or face the danger of being killed.

The Israeli military “will act forcefully against” Hamas and other Palestinian fighters who are active in the area, he said.

This comes after several rockets were launched earlier today from Gaza towards Kissufim. The Israeli military said the projectiles caused no injuries.

Up to 70,000 people have already been forcibly displaced recently as a result of evacuation orders for the eastern parts of Khan Younis, according to the UN.

The armed Lebanese group says it launched two “squadrons of attack drones” on northern Israel earlier today, with the second targeting a gathering of Israeli soldiers “in the vicinity of the Birkat Risha site” and achieving a hit.

The first batch of the drones had targeted the Michve Alon military base.

Hezbollah has claimed a total of 10 attacks today, with earlier strikes also using a barrage of rockets and a guided missile.

Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha says the group’s leadership is “studying” the invitation for more ceasefire talks from the US, Qatar and Egypt.

“We will certainly have a position on this invitation, and it will be announced later officially,” he is quoted as saying in a short statement to Arabi21.

Taha added that “the one obstructing the success of the last proposal is the Israeli occupation” and stressed that “closing the remaining gaps in the ceasefire agreement comes through exerting real pressure on the Israeli side, which was, and still is, practising a policy of placing obstacles in the way of the success of any efforts and endeavours leading to ending the aggression”.

If both Israel and Hamas agree to send delegations to either Doha or Cairo again, this would mark the first time the group is heading into talks with Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar at the helm following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh.

The Palestine mission to the UN wrote in a letter to the Security Council that the Israeli military has committed “another massacre of displaced civilians” following the attack on a school in Gaza.

“The Security Council cannot remain paralysed waiting for Israel to suddenly decide to respect international law when it is loudly telling and showing the world that it does not respect the Charter,” reads the letter.

Ambassador Riyad Mansour wrote that by now it should be clear that “Israel does not want a ceasefire and will never negotiate in good faith”.

“Stop this Israeli genocide on the Palestinian people. Stop this illegal, immoral, criminal occupation and its savage attempts to exterminate our people.”

“…At least 100 Palestinian children, women & men, among them many elderly persons were murdered by Israel in the early morning hours of today, 10 August, as they gathered for dawn prayers at Al-Tabi'in School in central Gaza City where thousands of displaced families had been… pic.twitter.com/zOP19Rd3Aa

— State of Palestine (@Palestine_UN) August 10, 2024

The Israeli military confirms in a statement that almost all of the explosive-laden drones launched earlier by Hezbollah punched through its defence systems but inflicted no casualties.

One of the unspecified number of drones was intercepted, while others impacted areas in northern Israel causing damage, it said without elaborating.

The Israeli military also released aerial footage to report a series of air raids across southern Lebanon today, purportedly to hit Hezbollah structures and operatives.

Aita al-Shaab, Khiam and Bilda along the border were some of the areas targeted by the Israeli military.

مشاهد توثق طائرات مسيرة في سماء شمال إسرائيل#الجزيرة #فيديو pic.twitter.com/sunGqVHg7Z

— الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) August 10, 2024

Translation: Scenes documenting drones in the skies of northern Israel.

The Uncommitted Movement in the US that has been refusing to vote to show displeasure with Washington’s handling of the war on Gaza believes an arms embargo is the only way to show support for Palestinian civilians.

“Being pro-ceasefire must mean committing to not send another bomb dropped on Palestinians in Gaza,” the movement said in a post on X.

This comes after Kamala Harris told pro-Palestinian demonstrators in a rally speech that “now is the time” to achieve a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement amid the latest US push, as the administration prepares to send more funds to Israel to purchase weapons.

Being pro-ceasefire must mean committing to not send another bomb dropped on Palestinians in Gaza.
Arms embargo now. #NotAnotherBomb https://t.co/kbhsHw33iD

— Uncommitted National Movement 🌺 (@uncommittedmvmt) August 10, 2024

The Israeli military is doubling down on its claims of directing only a “precision” strike at the al-Tabin school in Gaza City to target senior Palestinian fighters despite international criticism of its killing of dozens of civilians.

In an English-language video message, military spokesperson Daniel Hagari claimed that “there is a high probability” that Ashraf Juda, the commander of Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Central Camps Brigade, was at the school compound.

He added that there were approximately two dozen fighters at the site, 19 of whom were killed.

Hagari claims that “no women and children were present” in the area that was targeted by three bombs.

Officials in Gaza said women, children and the elderly are reported to be among the more than 100 killed and the toll was expected to rise. The attack took place while people were performing morning prayers and triggered a fire that ripped through the building.

The group has issued a statement saying that Israel’s allegations about the presence of fighters in al-Tabin school are “false and baseless”.

“We confirm that those who were killed in today’s massacre did not include a single gunman, and they were all civilians who were targeted while performing the dawn prayer,” Hamas said.

It added that those killed included children, civil servants, university professors and clergy.

“The al-Daraj neighbourhood massacre is one of thousands committed by the occupation in Gaza that deliberately target defenseless civilians”.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi has said that the country would not be a battlefield for any party, adding that Jordan will not allow the violation of its airspace.

Safadi’s comments come at a time when Iran and Hezbollah are expected to retaliate for the assassinations of two leading figures: Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran, and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

It took several hours to get a response from the White House. It wasn’t from one of the senior officials, but from a spokesperson of the National Security Council.

The statement said they were “deeply concerned about reports of civilian casualties in Gaza” and were in touch with Israeli counterparts, who said “they targeted senior Hamas officials”.

We’ve seen in the past where the US has allowed the Israelis to investigate issues which have raised international concerns.

They say we know Hamas has been using schools as locations to gather and operate out of, but we have said repeatedly and consistently that Israel must take measures to minimise civilian harm.

It also underscores the need for a ceasefire. We are being told that there will be a number of delegations perhaps heading to the Middle East in the next few days. We have been told by the Americans that they are very close to reaching a ceasefire.

The Biden government would very much like to see a ceasefire deal, they see this as an important legacy issue for him as he prepares to leave.

Hundreds of Israeli protesters have gathered in Tel Aviv demanding a deal to release all captives held in Gaza, and against Netanyahu’s government.

Many waved the Israeli flag and chanted as they called for a Hamas-Israel deal to be finalised.

Protesters criticised the government’s handling of the war in Gaza and the increasing tension with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Egypt, the US and Qatar have scheduled a new round of ceasefire negotiations for August 15, as fears grow of a broader conflict involving Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.

The Israeli military has decimated Palestinians in another large-scale attack in Gaza in a move that has become a pattern specifically whenever there has been progress on ceasefire talks.

Read our story here to learn about how and why Israel steps up its attacks and act with impunity.

Earlier today, British Foreign Minister David Lammy reacted to Israel’s deadly air raids on the al-Tabin school by asserting “Hamas must stop endangering civilians” while adding Israel must comply with international law.

Hamas says this is “a heinous alignment with the occupation’s false narrative that claims that schools and displacement centres are being used for military purposes in order to justify targeting civilians”.

“It is a blatant attempt to evade his country’s legal, political and moral responsibility for the continuation of this brutal genocide, by continuing to provide political and military support to the Zionist occupation,” Hamas said in a statement about Lammy.

فلسطينيون يبكون أقاربهم الشهداء الذين قتلهم الاحتلال في مجزرة مدرسة التابعين بمدينة غزة#حرب_غزة #فيديو pic.twitter.com/TyqpCz1sSi

— الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) August 10, 2024

Translation: Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed by the occupation in the massacre of the al-Tabin School in Gaza City.

The UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process has said that civilians in Gaza are experiencing “horror, displacement and endless suffering”.

“The cost in lives of this war is evident with every passing day as we have witnessed yet another devastating strike on a school sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians, with dozens of fatalities,” he said in a post on X.

Civilians continue to bear the brunt of this conflict amidst horror, displacement & endless suffering. We’ve witnessed yet another devastating strike on a school sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians, w/ dozens of fatalities.
My full statement 👇🏼: pic.twitter.com/97C88PTdJS

— Tor Wennesland (@TWennesland) August 10, 2024

Here are some of the latest developments from occupied West Bank:

• Israeli soldiers raided the village of Qusra, south of Nablus. Israeli forces shot live ammunition, stun grenades and tear gas at mostly young men, Wafa news agency reported.
• Soldiers also raided the towns of Kufr al-Lubad and Ramin, east of Tulkarem.
• In Sa’ir, near Hebron, Israeli forces hurled tear gas at civilians, some of whom had to be attended to by paramedics in ambulances nearby.