Airstrike on UN school in Gaza kills dozens, Israel claims it was targeting militants

It was a violent day as Palestinians say Israeli strikes killed dozens in Gaza. Israel says the targets were Hamas militants who took shelter at a UN school that has become a shelter for the displaced. In the West Bank, an Israeli soldier died in an attack on a bus stop and Palestinians say Israeli raids backed by airstrikes killed at least five. Nick Schfirin reports.

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Amna Nawaz: It was a violent day across Gaza and the West Bank. Palestinians say Israeli strikes that hit a United Nations school turned shelter killed dozens in Gaza. The U.N. said six of its staff died in the attack.

In the West Bank, an Israeli soldier died when a Palestinian truck rammed a bus stop. And Palestinians say Israeli raids backed by airstrikes killed at least five.

Nick Schifrin looks at the ongoing violence starting in Gaza.

Nick Schifrin: At this school turned shelter today, the aftermath was too much to bear and too graphic to show. Survivors collected body parts in whatever they could carry after a bomb gutted the bedroom that had once been a classroom.

Israel said the target was Hamas militants planning attacks. Palestinians said among the dead displaced women and children. Israel has pushed the displace to Al-Mawasi, where early yesterday morning first responders dug through soft sand in the crater left by an Israeli bomb.

By day, three craters, each at least 40-feet-wide, suggested Israel had dropped large bombs on what Israel calls a safer zone, tents that lead to the sea and have become a sea of humanity. The bombs blew through flimsy canvas and left behind the artifacts of a family’s displaced life.

Mohammad Nasser is 12 years old.

Mohammad Nasser, 12 Years Old (through interpreter): It was like any other night here, and then we heard rockets coming down right next to us. I found myself 1.5 meters under the ground and dirt above me. I wasn’t expecting to be saved from under the dirt because I could feel the weight of the ground above me and how strong the attack was. I didn’t think I’d be saved. Thank God for those who helped my dad who worked to get us out.

Fady Abed, MedGlobal: People were digging and searching for bodies under the sand. And there was at least more than 20 tents that they were gone.

Nick Schifrin: Fady Abed works for the international medical humanitarian organization MedGlobal. Before the war, he was a dentist. Since October the 7th, he’s been displaced four times.

Fady Abed: The fact that we left Gaza City just seeking safety and we know that Gaza is not safe anymore, so we went to the yellow area, they call it, or humanitarian area, but, at the same time, no one is safe even in the humanitarian area, makes you think, why did I take the decision of evacuating in the first place?

Nick Schifrin: But Israel says the targets were three senior Hamas commanders who were directly involved in October the 7th and embedded inside the humanitarian zone.

David Mencer, Spokesperson, Israeli Prime Minister’s Office: Israel is trying its hardest, more than any other nation on earth, more than any other army has in the history of armed conflict to get civilians out of harm’s way and to go for the terrorist targets, even though they embed themselves in civilian areas.

Nick Schifrin: But it’s the death of an American civilian in the occupied West Bank that has added tension between the U.S. and Israel. On Friday, Israeli soldiers shot dead Aysenur Eygi, 26-year-old born in Turkey who traveled to the West Bank to protest Israeli settlements.

Israel says the bullet that struck her was a ricochet aimed at the — quote — “instigator of the riot” and has expressed its deepest regret, an explanation that President Biden endorsed yesterday.

Joe Biden, President of the United States: We’re finding more detail. Apparently, it was an accident. It ricocheted off the ground and got hit by accident, but we’re working that out now.

Nick Schifrin: But today, in a statement, President Biden said: “The shooting that led to her death is totally unacceptable. There must be full accountability and Israel must do more to ensure that incidents like this never happen again.”

And Vice President Harris said: “Aysenur was peacefully protesting in the West Bank, standing up against the expansion of settlements when her young life was senselessly cut short.”