At least 30 people, including aid workers, children and a journalist, were killed when Israeli airstrikes hit a Red Cross-run school shelter in Gaza, the enclave’s Health Ministry said on Monday. The ministry, deemed credible by the United Nations, reported that the dead included two members of the Red Cross, a journalist, and seven children — among them Gaza’s youngest influencer, 11-year-old Yaqeen Hammad.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have yet to issue a formal statement on the bombing of the school shelter. International outrage mounted swiftly, with several European nations urging sanctions against Israel. Foreign ministers from 20 European countries gathered in Madrid to renew calls for a two-state solution and to press for Israel’s accountability under international law.
According to the Geneva Conventions and the tenets of modern international humanitarian law — first codified in 1864 — all parties to a conflict are obliged to distinguish at all times between civilians and combatants. Civilian infrastructure such as homes, schools, hospitals, religious sites and cultural property must not be targeted unless used for military purposes.
However, rights advocates and legal experts argue that the issue lies in the interpretation of these protections. “Israel is capitalising on these loopholes by simply stating that every structure in Gaza is being used by Hamas and its affiliates without providing concrete evidence,” said one observer.
Criticism of this approach has grown amid claims that international law is being manipulated to justify civilian deaths. “The problem isn’t in the law, but in the way warring parties interpret and manipulate its terms to justify the killings of civilians,” another expert noted.
With the Gaza war now entering its 20th month, the cost in civilian lives continues to mount. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, nearly 54,000 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 17,000 children and over 1,000 healthcare workers. The Government Media Office has placed the death toll at over 61,700, noting that thousands are missing and presumed dead under the rubble.
The bloodshed stems from the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led incursion into Israel, in which 1,139 people were killed and more than 200 taken captive. In response, Israel launched a prolonged offensive on Gaza, whose humanitarian toll has prompted widespread international condemnation.
Calls are growing for urgent reforms to international humanitarian law enforcement mechanisms. “It’s high time to address the issues within the law and adopt more robust measures to ensure the protection of civilians at all costs so that no party can kill civilians with impunity, like Israel has been doing in the 20-month-long and still ongoing Gaza invasion,” a humanitarian rights advocate said.
