by Farrukh Abadi
Over a hundred Palestinians were killed and many more injured by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Saturday that targeted a school with a mosque in it during morning prayer, making it one of the deadliest single strikes since the intensification of the Israeli genocide 10 months ago. The bombing marks the eighth school Israel has attacked in August alone, and at least the 21st since July 4. A UN body has found that, as of June 2024, 76% of Gaza’s schools require at least “major rehabilitation” to be considered functioning again.
The attack was carried out using 250-lb bombs manufactured by US monopoly Boeing, which has been used to bomb schools in previous months as well.
Rescue workers could not find a “single full body” among the deceased, which included children, women, and elderly people who were praying and taking refuge. The school was being used as a site of shelter for hundreds of civilians.
The bombing comes days after the US has once again pushed for ceasefire talks. Though nominally agreeing, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has maintained a policy of undermining ceasefire talks while claiming to support them. An analysis from Palestine Chronicle notes a pattern in which ceasefire negotiations have “always been preceded by a major massacre, or two, or three.”
The US also undermines a ceasefire deal as it continues to arm Israel and give a green flag to escalate the genocide. Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris justified the school bombing, stating “Israel has a right to go after the terrorists that are Hamas.” While stating at a recent campaign rally her support for a “ceasefire,” two days before the school bombing the Biden-Harris administration announced it was providing Israel with $3.5 billion to spend on US weapons, including bombs, as part of the $14.1 billion funding bill for Israel that congress passed in April.
Despite US officials repeatedly claiming that Hamas remains the obstacle to a ceasefire, the Palestinian resistance group has already agreed with the proposal when it was first put forward in May.
Hamas’s al-Qassam brigades launched two rockets at Tel Aviv Tuesday, which they stated was in response to the ongoing Zionist massacres and displacement. This marks the first time since May that the Palestinian resistance has targeted Tel Aviv. The rockets were fired from an area occupied by the IDF in southern Gaza, and explosions were reported in Tel Aviv and its suburbs, though no damage or injury reports are yet available.
