27-05-2025
Girl seen running through burning school after Israeli bombing raid in clips that have fueled global outrage
A child is seen running through a burning building after it was bombed in a deadly Israeli strike on Gaza in harrowing video images.
The overnight attack, one of 200 on the embattled enclave in the past 48 hours, killed more than 30 people.
World leaders have condemned the assault on the Fahmi al-Jarjawi school in Gaza City, which had been housing displaced Palestinians, after the video emerged.
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Disturbing: Footage shared widely online reportedly shows a small child running from the fire after the strike on the Fahmi al-Jarjawi school site in Gaza City
The school was targeted as part of 200 attacks on Gaza in the past 48 hours, Israel's military confirmed.
Pictures and videos of fires tearing through the building and the destruction in the aftermath have since circulated online.
Footage showing a little girl running through the building, which Al Jazeera and other outlets claim to have verified, was shared by Israeli national broadcaster Kann News before being deleted.
It is not clear if the child in the video escaped the blaze.
Other images from the site, where displaced families had been sheltering, show the badly burned corpses of adults and children.
In the hours since, Gaza's Hamas-run government has said that some 18 children were among those killed in the attack, which it condemned it as a 'brutal massacre.'
In a statement, it said Israel has been 'deliberately and systematically' targeting shelters for displaced people 'in a flagrant violation of all international and humanitarian laws, and in a blatant attempt to inflict the largest possible number of civilian casualties.'
The Israeli military said it had 'struck key terrorists who were operating within a Hamas and Islamic Jihad command and control center embedded in an area that previously served as the 'Faami Aljerjawi' School.'
It claimed that 'numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians.'
Deadly assault: Overnight Israel launched a strike on a school in the territory which had been sheltering displaced people, with rescuers saying at least 20 were killed in the attack
On Monday afternoon, the Israel army issued a far-reaching evacuation order for much of the southern Gaza Strip, warning people to move to the Mawasi area on the coast.
'The IDF will launch an unprecedented attack to destroy the capabilities of terror organizations [in this area],' the military's Arabic-language spokesman, Col Avichay Adraee, said on X.
He added that the evacuated area is considered 'a dangerous combat zone' and that the coastal area would be designated a 'safer zone.'
Overall, more than 50 people have been killed in attacks since dawn on Monday, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.
Responding to recent Israeli attacks in an interview, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said they are taking a humanitarian toll on civilians that can no longer be justified as a fight against terrorism.
'Harming the civilian population to such an extent, as has increasingly been the case in recent days, can no longer be justified as a fight against Hamas terrorism,' he told broadcaster WDR in a televised interview.
He added he planned to hold a call with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week to tell him 'to not overdo it,' though for 'historical reasons', Germany would always be more guarded in its criticism than some European partners.
The UN said on Sunday that at least 3,785 people had been killed in Gaza since a ceasefire collapsed on March 18, taking the overall death toll to 53,939 - most of whom are civilians.
Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Palestinian terrorists also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 who the Israeli military says are dead.
Donald Trump has said he wants to end the war in Gaza 'as quickly as possible', with sources reportedly suggesting that he could announce a ceasefire 'within the coming days.'
Counting the cost: Palestinians inspect the area following an Israeli airstrike at dawn on the Fahmi al-Jarjawi School in the al-Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City
'We want to see if we can stop it. And we've talked to Israel, we want to see if we can stop this whole situation as quickly as possible,' the US President told reporters as he boarded Air Force One.
Meanwhile, Sky News Arabia and other news outlets in the region cited sources as saying that there is a growing likelihood that Trump will announce a ceasefire in the coming days.
It would come as part of a deal that would include the release of Israeli hostages, the anonymous 'knowledgeable sources' reportedly said.
Israel has been intensifying its offensive in Gaza over recent weeks, at the same time as its three-month blockade of humanitarian supplies into the war-ravaged strip has sharpened international condemnation.
The day before, Israeli strikes killed 22 people and wounded dozens more across the Palestinian territory, the Gaza civil defense agency said.
Arab and European nations gathered yesterday to seek an end to the conflict while Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares called for an arms embargo on Israel.
He also called for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza 'massively, without conditions and without limits, and not controlled by Israel', describing the territory as humanity's 'open wound.'
