An Israeli attack on Gaza school sheltering displaced families killed at least six, including a child—denounced as a grave breach of international humanitarian law.
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An Israeli attack on Gaza school sheltering displaced Palestinian families claimed the lives of at least six people—including a young child and a woman—during the night of Friday, December 19, 2025, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense agency. The strike targeted a school in the At-Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City, reducing part of the building to rubble and sending rescue teams scrambling through debris to recover bodies and wounded civilians.
The Civil Defense, coordinating with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), confirmed that six bodies were extracted from the ruins, while an undetermined number of injured were rushed to overwhelmed local hospitals. Many of the victims were children who had sought refuge in what was supposed to be a safe haven.
“Attacking schools and shelters providing refuge to displaced Palestinians constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law,” the Civil Defense stated, demanding immediate protection for civilians and humanitarian personnel from further bombardment.
The school in At-Tuffah had been designated as a temporary shelter for families displaced by Israel’s ongoing military offensive—now in its second year. Like hundreds of similar facilities across Gaza, it housed people who had already lost homes, livelihoods, and loved ones, only to face death once again under the cover of darkness.
Israeli Attack on Gaza School: A Pattern of Systematic Violence
This latest strike is not an isolated incident but part of a relentless pattern of attacks on civilian infrastructure since Israel launched its military campaign in October 2023. According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, more than 70,660 Palestinians have been killed, and over 171,165 injured, many suffering life-altering wounds such as amputations and spinal trauma. Among the wounded, nearly 44,500 are children, as reported by UNICEF.
Palestinian armed group Hamas condemned the bombing as a “brutal crime against innocent civilians” and a “flagrant, repeated violation” of the ceasefire agreement that officially took effect on October 10, 2025. Despite the truce, Israeli forces have continued daily killings in Gaza, with health authorities reporting 395 Palestinians killed since the ceasefire began—a figure that underscores the fragility of the peace and the persistence of lethal operations.
View OCHA’s latest humanitarian report on Gaza (December 2025)
Footage shared by local journalist M. Shebrawy showed Israeli tanks continuing to fire toward the school and surrounding homes even after the initial strike. “The situation now in Al-Tuffah neighborhood… Israeli tanks are continuing to fire toward the school and nearby homes,” read the post, accompanied by harrowing images of smoke rising over shattered concrete.
International law is unequivocal: schools, hospitals, and shelters are protected civilian sites under the Geneva Conventions. Deliberate attacks on such facilities—especially when they house displaced persons—may constitute war crimes, as affirmed by the International Criminal Court and multiple UN human rights bodies.
Yet accountability remains elusive. Despite repeated condemnations from UN rapporteurs and global civil society, no meaningful consequences have been imposed on Israel for its systematic targeting of protected zones. Meanwhile, humanitarian access grows more restricted, and Gaza’s medical system—already decimated—struggles to treat the wounded without electricity, clean water, or surgical supplies.
Read UNICEF’s 2025 report on child casualties in Gaza
Geopolitical Context: Impunity and the Erosion of International Law
The Israeli attack on Gaza school must be understood within a broader context of institutionalized impunity and the erosion of the rules-based international order. For decades, Israel has operated with near-total immunity from legal consequences, shielded by powerful allies—primarily the United States—which consistently veto UN Security Council resolutions calling for ceasefires or accountability.
This dynamic has enabled a doctrine of collective punishment against 2.3 million Gazans, confined to one of the world’s most densely populated territories with no safe escape. The use of heavy weaponry in urban areas, the targeting of food and water infrastructure, and the repeated bombing of schools and hospitals reflect not tactical errors, but a deliberate strategy of dehumanization and displacement.
Regionally, the attack further destabilizes an already fragile ceasefire and risks reigniting full-scale hostilities. While Egypt and Qatar work to mediate, Israel’s continued violations undermine trust in the truce and fuel resentment among Palestinian factions. Globally, the incident highlights the hypocrisy of Western powers that champion “rules-based order” while tolerating, and often arming, one of its most flagrant violators.
Moreover, the timing is significant. As the International Court of Justice considers South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, and as the ICC investigates potential war crimes, such attacks serve as real-time evidence of ongoing violations. Yet diplomatic silence—particularly from European capitals—sends a clear message: civilian lives in Gaza are expendable.
Review the ICJ provisional measures order in the South Africa v. Israel case
For the Global South, this moment underscores the urgent need for alternative mechanisms of justice and protection outside Western-dominated institutions. From the African Union to the Non-Aligned Movement, calls are growing for stronger support of Palestinian statehood, arms embargoes on Israel, and recognition of the State of Palestine at the UN General Assembly.
Until then, schools in Gaza remain targets. Children remain casualties. And the world watches—again—as international law is trampled in real time.
Breaking | Israeli occupation artillery shells areas east of the Al-Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City. pic.twitter.com/aN7SITKc0t
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) December 19, 2025
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