We condemn the Israeli bombing of a UNRWA school in west Gaza in the early hours of Thursday morning, inflecting damage to the school facilities and putting the lives of hundreds of Palestinian students at serious risk.

Targeting civilian institutions, including the international organisations operating in the Gaza Strip, is a new crime added to a continuous spate of war crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people everywhere around the clock.  

This incident is not the first of its kind; the Israeli occupation has attacked international organisations over the past years even though they were offered special protection by international bodies. However, the Israeli occupation has long acted as a state above the law for it has never been held accountable for its crimes against Palestinians while enjoying a US cover that grants it immunity from legal prosecution.  

We call on the international community to denounce this crime, hold the Israeli occupation accountable and bring its leaders to justice as soon as possible, cut global support for it, boycott it, and imposed sanctions on it, while continuing to support the Palestinian people in their struggle for their rights and urgently and firmly working on lifting the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip.

We urge for providing financial support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to enable the UN body to continue providing services to more than five million Palestinian refugees until they restore their freedom and return to their homeland.