Over the past four days, Israeli occupation forces have bombed ten buildings belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza City. Among them were seven schools and two clinics being used as shelters by thousands of displaced civilians, according to UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Lazzarini warned: “There is no safe place or person in Gaza City or the north,” highlighting that the intensifying airstrikes are forcing even more Palestinians to flee into uncertainty.
He added that UNRWA was forced to suspend healthcare services at Al-Shati camp—home to the only functioning medical centre north of Wadi Gaza—while its water and sanitation facilities are operating at only half their capacity, worsening the humanitarian catastrophe.
The repeated attacks on UNRWA schools and clinics—facilities protected under international law—constitute a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions, which strictly prohibit targeting humanitarian and relief infrastructure.
Using these schools as shelters compounds the severity of the crime, as civilians become direct targets of what appears to be a systematic Israeli policy of forcibly displacing the population southwards—an act that may fall under the legal definition of genocide.
Since 7 October 2023, and with direct support from the United States, Israel has waged a campaign of extermination against Gaza’s population, resulting in the deaths of 64,871 Palestinians and injuries to more than 164,610, the majority of whom are women and children. Hundreds of thousands have been forcibly displaced.
Famine induced by the blockade has also claimed the lives of 422 civilians, including 145 children.
The deliberate targeting of schools, hospitals, and civilian infrastructure, coupled with starvation and denial of medical care, leaves no doubt that what is unfolding in Gaza is a genocide in full view of the international community.
Despite UN warnings about the dire situation, international silence continues to grant Israel cover to carry out these atrocities, placing the global community before a historic responsibility to protect civilians and uphold international law.
