UN: Israel Never Informed Us of Plans to Attack Gaza School

At Least 16 Slain, Hundreds Wounded in Strike on Refugees

Israel’s narrative on yesterday’s attack on a UN school full of refugees in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun has revised again today, with Israel now claiming they informed the UN of the plan to attack the school hours in advance, and told them to remove the refugees before then.

The UN is disputing that, saying that no warning at all was given, and further complaining that when experts visited the site today to inspect the damage, they too were attacked.

The claim of a warning is puzzling, because for hours the Israeli military denied having attacked the school at all, speculating that Hamas had somehow one it themselves. The story just kept changing.

The UN Relief and Works Agency, which operates the schools and hospitals in Gaza, say they have given precise coordinates of all their facilities to the Israeli military to prevent “accidental” strikes. Instead, it seems, Israel is just attacking them intentionally.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.