Amman, Jordan, December 18, 2024 — At least 20 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on 15 December, which targeted an UNWRA school sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis, Gaza. The Ahmed bin Abdul Azeez school is within the Israeli-designated “humanitarian zone,” which continues to be subjected to regular bombardment. According to reports, the attack occurred without warning, while displaced Palestinians were sleeping.
International Rescue Committee’s (IRC) and Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) Emergency Medical Team (EMT) is deployed at nearby Nasser Hospital to support Palestinian health workers. The EMT doctors responded immediately to provide life-saving medical care to the survivors of the attack. The EMT doctors reported that they tended to around 20 survivors, the majority of whom were women and children.
An Emergency Department and Intensive Therapy Unit Consultant reported, “We received a huge number of casualties. The very first patient who came in was a three-year-old girl. The left side of her forehead had been torn open by shrapnel fragments which had penetrated her skull. She had a severe injury to the left side of her brain. Due to the limited supply of painkillers and anesthetics, we had to undertake the procedure in the emergency room with very little access to medication. The entire emergency department was full of women, children and elderly patients with severe injuries. I lost count of the number of patients who came in with injuries. I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire career. I counted at least 18 patients who died in the emergency department, of these 12 were children under the age of 12 years old, the remainder were teenagers or adults. It’s very clear to me these are young children who are trying to escape war by sheltering in a UN school, yet they were massacred. I’ve got no other way to describe it.”
A Vascular Surgeon, said, “In minutes, the A&E was flooded with casualties. All the casualties I saw were women, teenagers or children below the age of 10...some of them just turned up gasping and then died...Many were severely injured and died on site or had already died en route to the hospital.”
Bob Kitchen, Vice President, Emergencies and Humanitarian Action, International Rescue Committee said, “this is yet another attack on a shelter housing displaced people, in what has become a familiar pattern over the course of this war. Civilians must be protected under international law, this is a non-negotiable obligation for all parties to the conflict and there must be accountability for failure to uphold the law. The testimonies from the doctors not only paint a picture of an egregious attack on civilians, but also highlight the severe lack of vital medical supplies needed to tend to catastrophic injuries, as a result of Israel’s restrictions on aid. Doctors report a shocking lack of painkillers, and the necessary tools to carry out specialised procedures. As a result, people are dying or suffering life changing injuries which may not have been the case with adequate medical supplies”
The IRC condemns all attacks on civilians in the strongest terms, and calls on Israel to immediately fulfill its obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians. Civilians must never be a target. The IRC continues to call for an immediate and lasting ceasefire as the best way to protect Palestinian lives and enable the release of the remaining hostages. Humanitarian aid must be urgently scaled up, including medical equipment and supplies needed to save lives.