28 July 2024: An Israeli airstrike on Khadija Girls’ School in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, claimed the lives of at least 30 people and injured over 100 others on Saturday, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
The school was sheltering over 4,000 displaced Palestinians and also housed a field hospital. “I am so lucky to have survived,” said 22-year-old Fadel Keshko, who was staying in the school with his sick grandmother and nephew. “The building I took shelter in was directly targeted. The distance between me and the rocket was just a meter away. I am horrified and terrified.”
Keshko and his family have now fled to Khan Younis, another area under Israeli attack. “There’s nothing I can do,” he said. “I am displaced from the north of Gaza. Now, it’s another round of displacement. I don’t know where I should go.”
Israeli fighter jets fired three missiles at the field hospital within the school complex, according to the Gaza government media office. The Israeli army claimed it targeted a Hamas “command and control center” embedded in the school but did not provide evidence to support this assertion. The military has frequently used similar claims to justify strikes on civilian infrastructures such as hospitals and schools.
Footage from the scene depicted the school floor covered in debris as rescuers worked to recover bodies and assist the wounded. Keshko described the aftermath as “blood splashed over the floors, mothers crying in pain and panic.”
He added, “No one could even imagine that this would happen. It’s a school that sheltered war-wounded survivors and their companions. I can’t even take a breath. I can’t talk. I no longer feel I will stay alive.”
Eyewitness Mostafa al-Rafati was reported to have seen “children, women, heads, arms, legs, a scene of ghosts,” describing the moment of the strike as a “horrible scene.” Umm Ahmad Fayed, who took shelter in the school with her family, is still searching for her daughter, who went missing after the attack. “I do not know where my daughter is,” she said.
“Her clothes, bed, and all her stuff are destroyed, but I do not know if they saved her, if she is dead, if she is alive, I do not know.”
The attack on Khadija Girls’ School adds to the staggering toll of the ongoing conflict. More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
