Egypt accuses Israel of deliberately killing civilians and hindering truce effort

The US, Qatar and Egypt had urged Israel and Hamas to resume ceasefire talks next week

An Israeli air strike on Al Tabaeen school in Gaza city killed at least 100 people on Saturday. AFP

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Egypt has accused Israel of deliberately hindering Gaza ceasefire talks after an air strike on a school that killed more than 100 people and injured dozens of others on Saturday morning.

Israel's attacks on civilians showed “an unprecedented disregard for the provisions of international law and international humanitarian law”, Egypt's Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued after the attack on Al Tabaeen school in Gaza city, which was housing 2,400 displaced Palestinians.

The strike was perpetrated amid a renewed push for the resumption of talks to end the war in Gaza. Leaders of the US, Qatar, and Egypt issued a call for Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas to return to ceasefire negotiations mediated by the three countries.

“Egypt considers the continued commission of these large-scale crimes, and the deliberate killing of these huge numbers of unarmed civilians, whenever the efforts of mediators intensified to try to reach a formula for a ceasefire in the strip, is conclusive evidence of the absence of political will on the part of the Israeli side to end this fierce war,” the ministry said.

The UAE “denounced in the strongest terms” Israel's attack on the school and reaffirmed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza to prevent further loss of life, Afra Al Hameli, director of strategic communications at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on X.

Jordan condemned what it said was Israel's “flagrant violation of the rules of international law and an insistence on the systematic targeting of civilians and centres for sheltering displaced persons”.

Jordanian Foreign Ministry spokesman Sufyan Al Qudah said there was an absence of a “firm international position that curbs Israeli aggression and forces it to respect international humanitarian law”.

The latest attack, amid a diplomatic push to renew talks for a ceasefire, is an indication of the Israeli government's endeavours to “obstruct and thwart these efforts”, the ministry said.

Qatar said it was renewing its call for independent UN investigators to look into Israel's “repeated targeting of schools and displacement shelters”.

Turkey denounced the attack on Al Tabaeen school. “Israel has committed a new crime against humanity by massacring more than a hundred civilians who had taken refuge in a school,” it said in a statement from its Foreign Ministry.

It also accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of wanting “to sabotage ceasefire negotiations”.

A man mourns a relative killed in the strike. AFP

The UN's Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories accused Israel of genocide.

“In the largest and most shameful concentration camp of the 21st century, Israel is 'genociding' the Palestinians one neighbourhood at the time, one hospital at the time, one school at the time, one refugee camp at the time, one 'safe zone' at the time,” Francesca Albanese said in a statement on social media platform X.

Ms Albanese accused Israel of using “US and European weapons” to carry out its attacks.

“May the Palestinians forgive us for our collective inability to protect them, honouring the most basic meaning of [international] law.”

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he was “horrified” by the images emerging from the aftermath of the Israeli attack.

“At least 10 schools were targeted in the last weeks. There's no justification for these massacres”, he wrote in a post on X.

The renewed push for a ceasefire, which received widespread support in the region and from the US and European Union, came after the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week and the appointment of Yahya Sinwar, the group's leader in Gaza, as his successor.

Iran and Hamas have blamed Israel for the assassination and vowed to retaliate, spreading fears of a regional war.

Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah has also threatened Israel with a “punishment” after Israel killed one if its senior commanders in Beirut last week.