Israeli attack hit Gaza school compound where charity taught children strike drills
Children sheltering at the Tabeen school in Gaza City were taught how to brace for the impact of an airstrike days before the Israeli military bombed the compound last month, a charity has said.
Young children sat on the carpeted floor of a Gaza City classroom, wrapping their hands around their heads as they learned, during a nonprofit organization’s training program, how to brace for the impact of an airstrike.
Days later, on Aug. 10, the Israeli military bombed part of the school. At least 93 people were killed, according to local officials.
Israeli officials said their intelligence indicated that no women and children were in the area they targeted with three high-precision bombs: a mosque in the Tabeen school compound. In video and photos of the school, the mosque appeared to be connected to the school building, where displaced Palestinians were sheltering.
But leaders of the charity, Humanity & Inclusion, told NBC News that the Israel Defense Forces should have been aware of the risks of striking a compound where civilians were sheltering.
Displaced Palestinians were sheltering at the school in Gaza City.Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP via Getty ImagesIn the days before, Humanity & Inclusion notified IDF coordinators in writing of its plans to visit the school inside the Tabeen building on Aug. 6 and Aug. 8 for humanitarian work, according to communications reviewed by NBC News and a top official at the nonprofit group.“I’m highly surprised that the IDF would not know that this place, this school, was used as a shelter for civilians,” Federico Dessi, the Middle East regional director for Humanity & Inclusion, a Lyon, France-based charity that works in dozens of countries around the world responding to conflicts and disasters, said in a phone interview on Aug. 16.
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