Bomb remnants found after Israeli air strikes hit two different schools in Gaza were from US-made munitions, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report released on Thursday.
The munitions were used when Israeli forces carried out at least three air strikes on the Khadija girls’ school in Deir al-Balah on 27 July 2024, killing at least 15 people; and al-Zeitoun C School in Gaza City on 21 September 2024, which killed at least 34 people, according to HRW.
HRW concluded that at least two air-dropped GBU-39 small diameter bombs used in the attack on the Khadija girls’ school were produced by Boeing and then “transferred to Israel with US government approval under the Foreign Military Sales or Direct Commercial Sales programs”.
Around 4,000 displaced Palestinians had been sheltering at the Khadija girls’ school for months, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence, an organisation providing emergency and rescue services in Gaza.
There was also a field hospital connected to the Khadija girls’ school, according to testimony from the director of al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, which is located a kilometre away from the school.
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HRW’s report found no clear reason for military strikes on or near the school on the day of the attack. It said there was no evidence that any of the men killed at the school were members of Palestinian armed groups, after reviewing social media pages of groups.
HRW contacted the Israeli military for more information about the target but did not receive a response.
Civilians were not warned that the first strike was coming on the girls’ school, which is when most casualties occurred, but were apparently warned about the second and third strikes.
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Four children, four women, seven men, and two others whose complete names were not identified were found to be among those who died in the attacks, according to Airwars, a nongovernmental organisation that investigates civilian harm in conflict zones.
The Gaza health ministry reported at the time that 30 had been killed and 100 were injured in the attacks.
HRW’s report stressed that there is an “absence” of safe places left for Gaza’s displaced people after hundreds of Israeli strikes on schools sheltering displaced Palestinians, “including unlawfully indiscriminate attacks using US munitions”.
“Recent Israeli strikes on schools-turned-shelters are part of Israeli forces’ current military offensive that is demolishing much of Gaza’s remaining civilian infrastructure, displacing again hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, and worsening the already dire humanitarian situation,” the report says.
HRW called on the US to impose an arms embargo on the Israeli government and take further measures to enforce the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
No military targets
In a separate investigation of an attack on the al-Zeitoun C School in Gaza City on 21 September 2024, HRW found that at least one US-produced GBU-39 small diameter bomb directly hit one of the school buildings, killing at least 34 people.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health and the Gaza Media office had reported at the time that 22 people were killed, including six women and 13 children.
Three men, four women, and 16 children – 23 people spanning nine families – were identified among the victims, according to Airwars, which used open source information to establish who had been killed.
HRW identified and found the names of four additional people who were killed, including one woman, two boys, and one female of an unknown age.
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Once again, HRW found no evidence of a military target in the school or the surrounding area, where thousands of people were said to be sheltering, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza. Many of the victims were said to be widows and orphans.
The Israeli military said it had “conducted a precise strike on terrorists who were operating inside a Hamas command and control center … embedded inside a compound that previously served as the Al-Falah School”, but HRW did not find any evidence that the men who died had any ties to armed groups.
Bombing schools during armed conflict is considered a war crime under international law.
When asked by Middle East Eye whether a US investigation would be conducted over the use of US munitions in Israel’s attacks on the schools, the State Department said it rejected the conclusions identified in the HRW report, saying that the human rights organisation has “long been hostile towards Israel”.
It said that it stood with Israel and that the Israeli government is investigating incidents in Gaza involving civilians. It referred MEE to the Israeli government for more information.
It also added that Israel had “the near impossible task of fighting on multiple fronts against those that want to destroy them, including in Gaza where Hamas cowards hide behind hospitals, schools, and other civilian infrastructure”, adding that this is the “reason why President Donald Trump and Secretary Marco Rubio will make sure Hamas never rules Gaza again”.
HRW’s investigation found no evidence of any military activity at the schools or any connections between the victims and Hamas.
The Department of Defence did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
