By Shahrokh Saei

Gaza City carnage: How US and its allies cover up Israeli crimes

August 11, 2024 - 19:57

TEHRAN- Israel’s Western and regional allies are scheming to paper over the regime’s weekend carnage in Gaza City. More than 100 people were killed after Israel bombed a school building sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza City’s Daraj neighborhood on Saturday.

The Israeli army carried out an airstrike against the building, which also served as a mosque, during dawn prayers.

The extent of Israel’s sheer savagery following the bombing of Tabeen school keeps unfolding with more horrific testimonies.

Videos released in the aftermath of the attack show a large number of bodies strewn on the ground. 

Dismembered body parts at the scene of the massacre are indicative of Israel’s appalling atrocities. 

One woman, known as Um Ahmed, said she was unable to find her husband in the aftermath of the Israeli bombing of the building.  

“I went to look for my husband and I didn’t see anybody, they were all in pieces,” she told CNN. 

Um Ahmed added that the mosque was full of young people who were “all in pieces and dismembered” in the aftermath of the strike. 

Others also shed light on the terrifying scene as the tragedy occurred. 

 “There were people praying, there were people washing and there were people upstairs sleeping, including children, women and old people. The missile fell on them without warning. The first missile, and the second. We recovered them as body parts,” Abu Anas, who helped rescue the wounded, told the Associated Press. 

Fadl Naeem, head of al-Ahli Hospital, where many of the casualties were taken also said the remains of many victims were so badly disfigured that identification was difficult.

UNICEF also described the attack as "really outrageous" stressing that such schools house civilians.  

Salim Oweis, spokesman for the UN children's agency, told the BBC, "All those schools are really packed with civilians, children, mothers and families, who are taking refuge in any empty space whether it's a school or it's a mosque, whatever it is, even in hospital yards." 
 

Justifying barbarism

Israel has claimed that it hit resistance fighters in the attack on the school. The Israeli army has accused Hamas of using the building as a cover to carry out operations against the regime. 

It has made similar accusations against Hamas since declaring war on Gaza on October 7 but has failed to provide any evidence to back up the claims. 

Unsurprisingly, the administration of US President Joe Biden echoed Israel’s narrative. 

US National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett accused Hamas of using schools "as locations to gather and operate out of".

Washington expressed concern about the loss of civilian life following the attack on the Gaza City school but fell short of condemning Israel for perpetrating the massacre. 

Britain also followed suit. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy  said he was "appalled" by Israel's bombing of the school but accused Hamas of endangering civilians. 

Both the US and the UK have tried to demonize Hamas by accusing it of using the school as a command center.

Nonetheless, according to the BBC, Tabeen school housed Palestinians who had recently been displaced from the town of Beit Hanoun, after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes.
 

US bombs kill Gazans 

Since the start of the Gaza war, the US has thrown its full weight behind Israel. It has provided the Benjamin Netanyahu regime with unwavering political and military support. 

According to CNN, Israel used at least one US-manufactured precision-guided bomb during the strike on the Gaza City school on Saturday. 

The weekend Israeli deadly attack has led to growing pressure on the US to stop arming Israel. 

But, supporting Israel is among key principles of the US foreign policy and some other Western countries. 
 

Ridiculous charade  

In order to appease domestic opposition to Israel’s crimes in Gaza, Washington and its allies have called for increasing efforts to establish a ceasefire in Gaza following the attack on Tabeen school.

Some countries in West Asia which have established covert and over ties with Israel have also demanded that Israel and Hamas spare no effort to reach a truce deal. 

However, Israel’s Western and regional allies are well aware that the Netanyahu regime does not want to end the Gaza onslaught. 

Hence, growing calls for ceasefire in Gaza are aimed at diverting attention away from rising opposition to Israel’s genocidal acts in the Palestinian territory.  

Israel will continue to perpetrate back-to-back massacres in Gaza as long as the US and its Western and West Asia allies refuse to take practical measures against the regime.