GazaHerald – Two deadly Israeli air strikes on Gaza schools sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians were carried out with US-made munitions, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), intensifying calls for Washington to halt arms transfers to Israel.
The report, released Thursday, examined the July 27, 2024, attack on the Khadija Girls’ School in Deir al-Balah and the September 21, 2024, strike on the al-Zeitoun C School in Gaza City. HRW said both incidents involved air-dropped GBU-39 small diameter bombs manufactured by Boeing and transferred to Israel with US government approval through the Foreign Military Sales or Direct Commercial Sales program
Khadija Girls’ School Massacre
At least 15 people were killed when Israeli forces launched three separate strikes on the Khadija Girls’ School, which had been sheltering around 4,000 displaced Palestinians for months, according to the Palestinian Civil Defense. The compound also housed a field hospital run in coordination with al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, located one kilometer away.
HRW concluded that at least two US-made bombs were used in the attack. The group said there was no evidence the men killed were members of armed groups and no indication of any military targets on or near the school. The Israeli military did not respond to HRW’s request for information.
The first strike, carried out without warning, caused the most casualties. Airwars, an independent group investigating civilian harm, identified among the dead four children, four women, seven men, and two others whose names were incomplete. The Gaza Health Ministry reported 30 killed and 100 injured.
Less than two months later, another US-produced GBU-39 bomb struck al-Zeitoun C School in Gaza City, killing at least 34 people, according to HRW. The Palestinian Civil Defense said thousands were sheltering at the school, many of them widows and orphans.
Airwars confirmed 23 victims from nine families, three men, four women, and 16 children, and identified four more: one woman, two boys, and one female of unknown age. Gaza’s Health Ministry initially reported 22 dead, including six women and 13 children.
The Israeli military claimed it had targeted a Hamas command and control center inside the compound, but HRW found no evidence of such activity and no ties between the victims and armed groups.
War Crimes and US Accountability
HRW said both strikes occurred without clear military justification and in the absence of safe refuge for Gaza’s displaced population, after months of Israeli attacks on schools being used as shelters. It described them as part of a broader offensive “demolishing much of Gaza’s remaining civilian infrastructure” and worsening an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis. Bombing schools in armed conflict is considered a war crime under international law.
The organization urged the United States to impose an arms embargo on Israel and take measures to enforce the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Asked by Middle East Eye if it would investigate the use of US weapons in the strikes, the US State Department rejected HRW’s findings, accusing the organization of having “long been hostile towards Israel.”
It reiterated support for Israel, insisting the Israeli government is investigating incidents involving civilian casualties. The department echoed Israeli claims that Hamas “hides behind hospitals, schools, and other civilian infrastructure” and declared that “President Donald Trump and Secretary Marco Rubio will make sure Hamas never rules Gaza again.”
The Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment before publication.
HRW maintains it found no evidence of military activity at either school and no links between the victims and Hamas.
