TEHRAN- Israel's killing machine continues to operate relentlessly in the Gaza Strip as more casualties pile up in the besieged Palestinian territory.

More than 350 days have passed since Israel declared war on Gaza.

Since the start of the onslaught on October 7, around 41,400 Palestinians, including over 16,000 children have been butchered by the Israeli army. Besides, close to 96,000 other Palestinians have been injured. 

Israel has bombarded hospitals, schools, and residential buildings mercilessly, leaving a trail of death and destruction.

On Saturday, Gaza’s civil defense agency said an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City killed nearly two dozen people, including thirteen children. 

Mahmud Bassal, the agency’s spokesman, said thousands of displaced people had sought shelter at the school. Israel claims its strike on the school targeted Hamas members.

But the regime has failed to provide any evidence to back up its claim. 

Israel has used the same pretext to target health and educational centers across the enclave. 

Targeting schools and hospitals during conflict is one of the six grave violations identified and condemned by the UN Security Council. 

But Israel has turned a blind eye to all principles of international law and continued its war of genocide in Gaza. 

Israel has also ignored a ruling issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that called on the regime to stop genocidal acts. 

The ICJ found in January this year that there was a risk of violation of the rights of the Palestinian people to protection from genocide.

It ordered Israel to “take all measures within its power” to desist from killing Palestinians in contravention of the genocide convention, to prevent and punish the incitement of genocide, and to facilitate the provision of “urgent basic services”.

But the Benjamin Netanyahu regime has slaughtered more Palestinians in Gaza since the ICJ, also known as the World Court, gave the order. 

Israel is taking revenge against the Palestinian people for its failures on the Gaza battlefield. 

For nearly a year, Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas but it has not succeeded in realizing its goal. Instead, support for the resistance movement has been on the rise. 

Netanyahu’s army has been slaughtering Palestinians in Gaza with impunity in the face of the inaction of Israel’s Western and regional allies. 

On the one hand, the US and European countries express concern about the loss of civilian life in Gaza but, on the other hand, they provide Israel with weapons which are used in the regime’s strikes against Palestinians.  

Arab states have also condemned Israeli crimes in Gaza but they have rejected growing public calls to sever ties with the occupying regime. 

When the war finally ends, the world will be forced to reckon with the complicity of Western and Arab nations in Israel's appalling atrocities.