US vice-president and Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris said that “far too many civilians” had been killed in Gaza after Israel faced a mounting wave of condemnation over a strike on a school on Saturday.
The IDF said it had conducted a “precision strike” against a Hamas command centre embedded in a mosque in the al Taba’een school compound and “numerous steps” had been taken to reduce civilian casualties.
But Palestinian sources put the death toll at more than 70 as pictures of shrouded bodies and injured children lying on hospital beds filled TV screens across the world.
Shrouded bodies are laid down at the al-Maamadani hospital, following an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza City on August 10, 2024. The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas "command and control centre" that was "embedded" in Al-Tabi'een school in the Daraj neighbourhood. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP) (Photo by OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images)
Asked about the incident on the election campaign trail in Arizona, Harris was quoting as saying that Israel had “a right” to go after terrorists. “But as I have said many, many times, they also have, I believe, an important responsibility to avoid civilian casualties.”
It is not clear whether her comment about there being “too many civilian casualties” referred to the war in general or the specific attack on al-Taba’een, where Palestinians displaced from their homes had been sheltering.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy tweeted that he had been “appalled” by the attack and “the tragic loss” of life.
“Hamas must stop endangering civilians. Israel must comply with International Humanitarian Law,” he wrote. “We need an immediate ceasefire to protect civilians, free all hostages, and end restrictions on aid.”
US National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said Hamas had been using schools "as locations to gather and operate out of”, adding: ”But we have also said repeatedly and consistently that Israel must take measures to minimise civilian harm.”
Egypt, which along with the US and Qatar, had been pushing for the resumption of talks for a ceasefire and the release of hostages this week, castigated Israel.
The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Police Josep Borrell said there was “no justification for these massacres”.
In a statement posted on X/Twitter, the IDF said, “Following an intelligence investigation, it can be confirmed at this time that at least 19 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists were eliminated. These terrorists operated in order to advance and carry out attacks against IDF soldiers and the State of Israel from inside the compound.”
It posted photographs of the men it had identified as terrorists.
The IDF said the strike had been “carried out using three precise munitions, which, according to professional analysis, can not cause the amount of damage that is being reported by the Hamas-run Government Information Office in Gaza. Furthermore, no severe damage was caused to the compound where the terrorists were situated.”
It said before the attack, “numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of a small warhead, aerial surveillance, and intelligence information”.
The IDF’s spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said it had received “various intelligence indications” there was a “high probability” that the commander of Islamic Jihad’s Central Camps Brigade, Ashraf Juda, was president at the location - but that it was not clear if he had been killed.
