Airstrike on school in Gaza further diminishes prospects of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas
An Israeli airstrike on a school being used as a shelter for civilians killed at least 100 people in Gaza over the weekend. Israeli authorities maintain that the school was a command center for Hamas. But the strike has sparked international outrage. The Palestinian Civil Defense said people were performing dawn prayers at a mosque in the compound at the time of the attack.
The incident has further dimmed prospects of reaching a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
The World’s Host Marco Werman spoke with Tahani Mustafa, senior Palestine analyst with the International Crisis Group in Amman, Jordan, about the situation.
Marco Werman: What do we know at this point?
Tahani Mustafa: Well, we know that there were families sheltering at the school. Gaza doesn’t have any shelters. So, really civil infrastructure, those sorts of buildings provide the shelter that people have. At the dawn prayer, there were a couple of strikes, actually, that ended up killing over 100 people, civilians.
Now, Israel says that Hamas had been using those civilians as human shields. It was using the school as a military base. Again, this has been completely unsubstantiated. And even the 15 names that Israel had released to claim that they were militants have been disproven by the head of Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, who knew nine of those people personally. Some of those supposed militants had actually been killed the day before.
And of the nine that the person that I just mentioned now, he knew them personally, and he claimed that they had absolutely no political affiliation to any faction and the one that could have actually had any affiliations, Hamas had a very contentious relationship with the movement itself.
Now, Israel says that Hamas had been using those civilians as human shields. It was using the school as a military base. Again, this has been completely unsubstantiated. And even the 15 names that Israel had released to claim that they were militants have been disproven by the head of Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, who knew nine of those people personally. Some of those supposed militants had actually been killed the day before.
And of the nine that the person that I just mentioned now, he knew them personally, and he claimed that they had absolutely no political affiliation to any faction and the one that could have actually had any affiliations, Hamas had a very contentious relationship with the movement itself.
Yeah. And Israel defends its right to hit targets like these when there are dozens of militants inside, so they say, they say they’re facing an enemy that uses civilians as human shields. They’re taking all feasible precautions. Do they ever have intelligence that is corroborated by other parties? Like what is your understanding of that?
We never have any independent organizations that have ever been able to corroborate any of these claims. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the UN, they’ve never been able to corroborate, even in previous wars where Israel has targeted civilian infrastructure on the basis that they have been used as military bases or supposed human shields. What’s worse is now Israel is systematically doing this for the last 10 months. And again, they have not allowed for any investigative bodies to even enter Gaza. So really, it’s taking the word of the IDF at face value.
Is it widely understood where Hamas command centers are, or does Hamas change its bases so frequently it’s hard to know?
We were told that Hamas’ command center was based in the north. We were then told later on that it was actually in the south. We’ve seen Israel have to go in numerous times in places where they’ve claimed to clear out Hamas, where Hamas has been able to reestablish itself. Israel hasn’t been able to even destroy a third of Hamas’s tunnel infrastructure so far. So, it’s very clear that Israel really doesn’t have much serious intelligence on the ground in terms of where Hamas is based.
If this was indeed a Hamas command center, does that mean it was a legitimate military target under the laws of war.
Under international law, the use of force has to be proportionate to the threat posed, and that clearly has not been the case. That school that they had targeted on Aug. 10 was designated as part of the safe zone that Israel had told those people to evacuate to — and then later targeted.
Today, we should note, marks the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, a set of rules designed to protect noncombatants and detainees and limit the horrors of war. Is either side in this war adhering to those conventions?
I mean, it’s very abundantly clear that Israel has been systematically targeting everything in Gaza. There has been no safe place, even entities that should be considered protected under international law. If anything, over the last 10 months, we’ve seen it become more and more brutal, targeting more and more civilian infrastructure at this point.
And how is Hamas upholding the Geneva Conventions?
Hamas is a resistance movement that is fighting an invading force in the Gaza Strip. Now, if we are to work on the basis that Israel claims, which is that they are using their civilian population as human shields, again, there has been no substantial evidence to really corroborate any of those claims.
If we’re talking about Hamas’ actions on Oct. 7, then that’s something else completely. And that is something that Hamas will have to eventually answer for. And it is something that its leadership has said that it will answer for what it is willing to go to international institutions and face whatever procedure it is due.
However, at this point, if we’re talking about what has now unfolded in the last 10 months, then it’s difficult to actually corroborate without any serious independent investigation to really determine whether Hamas has actually been putting its civilians in harm’s way on purpose.
If we’re talking about Hamas’ actions on Oct. 7, then that’s something else completely. And that is something that Hamas will have to eventually answer for. And it is something that its leadership has said that it will answer for what it is willing to go to international institutions and face whatever procedure it is due.
However, at this point, if we’re talking about what has now unfolded in the last 10 months, then it’s difficult to actually corroborate without any serious independent investigation to really determine whether Hamas has actually been putting its civilians in harm’s way on purpose.
I mean, Hamas killed hundreds of civilians in Israel and continues to keep dozens of civilians hostage. We don’t know if some of them are alive or dead. Are you arguing that Hamas is not running afoul of the Geneva Conventions?
No, not at all. Absolutely not. I mean, it was absolutely atrocious what happened on Oct. 7. It was clearly indefensible. And no Palestinian has tried to ever defend what happened on Oct. 7. But that does not again justify the response to which 2.3 million people have now had to answer for in the Gaza Strip, as well as the the remaining 3.2 million in the West Bank, who had absolutely nothing to do with the events of Oct. 7, but who have been subject to equal collective punishment. We’ve seen mosques, hospitals, schools, universities, Israel has effectively destroyed every university in Gaza.
You know, we have seen over 190 journalists that have been killed since the start of this onslaught. It’s difficult at this point to really corroborate the Israeli claim that they are trying to do all that they can to avoid civilian casualties.
What we have seen across the region, where Israel has conducted targeted assassinations in places like Beirut, in places like Tehran, where they can actually avoid civilian casualties, and when they do have the capability to conduct precise, targeted assassinations. But in the case of Gaza, they simply haven’t done that.
You know, we have seen over 190 journalists that have been killed since the start of this onslaught. It’s difficult at this point to really corroborate the Israeli claim that they are trying to do all that they can to avoid civilian casualties.
What we have seen across the region, where Israel has conducted targeted assassinations in places like Beirut, in places like Tehran, where they can actually avoid civilian casualties, and when they do have the capability to conduct precise, targeted assassinations. But in the case of Gaza, they simply haven’t done that.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
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