EU condemns Israeli attack on Palestinian worshipers in Gazan school

Ankara: The EU foreign policy chief expressed strong condemnation on Saturday following reports of an Israeli attack on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip.

“Horrified by images from a sheltering school in Gaza hit by an Israeli strike, w/ reportedly dozens of Palestinian victims,” the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell wrote on X.

At least 100 people were killed and several injured as an Israeli aircraft targeted Palestinians performing fajr (dawn) prayers at the Al-Taba’een School in the Al-Daraj neighborhood.

Borrell emphasized that there is no justification for such massacres, particularly targeting educational institutions meant to serve as shelters for civilians.

He drew attention to the alarming number of casualties since the conflict began in early October, with reports indicating more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed

“We regret & condemn Minister (Bezalel) Smotrich opposition – against the interest of the Israeli people – to a deal,” he said. Smotrich, who leads the far-right Religious Zionism party in Israel, denounced a cease-fire proposal in Gaza on Friday as a “dangerous trap” because it would create a “delusional symmetry” between Israeli hostages and “despicable Jew-murdering terrorists” who would be released.

Borrell reiterated that a cease-fire remains “the only way to stop the killing of civilians and secure the hostages’ release.”

Belgium, meanwhile, also condemned the attack.

“This war must stop immediately. Targeting civilian infrastructure violates international law and is unacceptable,” Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib wrote on X.

The Israeli onslaught against the Gaza Strip has killed nearly 39,800 victims since October following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.