Israel Admits Shelling UN School in Gaza, Bizarrely Claims No One Killed

At Least 16 Confirmed Dead by Locals in Last Week's Attack

Israel’s narrative on the Thursday shelling of a UN school full of refugees in the Gaza Strip continues to morph, going from initial denial of any such strike, then later to a claim that they intentionally hit the school and “warned” the UN to evacuate.

Following the UN pointing out no such warning was ever given, the official Israeli story is now that they did shell the UN school, but that it was an “errant” shot, and that no one was killed.

Claiming the shot was in error doesn’t make much sense at this point, after having already called it intentional in a previous narrative, nor does the claim of none killed, as the UN and local hospitals put the toll at 16 dead, and hundreds wounded.

Israel has a history of offering multiple unconvincing and conflicting accounts when their assorted wars against Gaza run into a too high-profile civilian calamity, and while the UN continues to complain, it is unlikely to impact future Israeli attacks on civilian targets.

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.