KUALA LUMPUR: A heartbreaking scene unfolded at the Shadia Abu Ghazala School on Wednesday, where the bodies of over a dozen Palestinians, reportedly shot dead by Israeli soldiers, were discovered.
The school, serving as a refuge for those displaced by Israel's bombardment, revealed a grim reality as at least 15 bullet-riddled and decomposed bodies were found heaped together in the Al-Faluja area west of the Jabalia refugee camp.
Al Jazeera, having obtained distressing footage of the bodies, reported that witnesses claimed the victims, including women and children, were mercilessly shot at point-blank range by the Israeli military. The exact timing of this devastating incident remained unconfirmed.
The Shadia Abu Ghazala school is a United Nations (UN) )-run facility that has become a shelter during the war but may now be the scene of a war crime, Al Jazeera reported.
A witness told Al-Jazeera: "These were the bodies of people who had sought refuge at the school.
"They were civilians, not freedom fighters. (They were) killed execution-style by the Israeli army."
The video also showed a woman whose niece was among the victims.
The woman was heard saying: "She (the niece) was hiding from bombardment here in the school building.
"We did not know where she was. Her mother, brothers, sisters and uncle were all killed," said the grieving woman.
The woman claimed the Israeli army stormed the school, took all the men, then entered the classrooms and opened fire on the women and all the children and even the newborns among them.
The tragedy extended beyond the Shadia Abu Ghazala school, as on Wednesday, Israel shelled the UN-run Abu Hussein primary school for boys in Jabalia, causing numerous casualties.
Throughout the conflict, schools and hospitals—shelters for tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians—have been targeted by Israeli attacks.
Entire families and multi-storey buildings have been wiped out in Israeli airstrikes, and most of the 18,600 people killed since Oct 7 are women and children.
There have been international calls to bring Israel to justice over its ongoing genocide in Gaza.