‘Beyond horrific’: Several killed in Israeli attack on north Gaza school

‘Panic, fear, and terror that swept through the school overwhelming’ says survivor.of strike in Jabalia an-Nazla.

At least eight people have been killed, including children, in an Israeli bombardment of the Halimah al-Saadiyah School in Jabalia an-Nazla, in northern Gaza, where displaced Palestinians were sheltering, according to sources at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City who spoke to Al Jazeera.

Several people were also injured in the attack. Survivors relayed a harrowing scene of inferno.

“I saw the whole area filled with dust – that’s when I realised the strike had hit this place,” Abu Haitham Khalla told Al Jazeera, standing among the rubble.

“The panic, fear, and terror that swept through the school was overwhelming. There were about 1,000 displaced people sheltering here – tents and classrooms all being used as refuge,” he said.

“So far, 10 people have been confirmed killed, in addition to many injuries – all of them women and children,” he added.

Another witness, Ahmed Khalla, said he found dead victims people lying on the floor of a classroom. “Children torn apart, charred. Women who had done absolutely nothing. The scenes were beyond horrific. I saw a little girl without a head – literally, without a head.”

A woman holds a baby in her arms as Palestinian families begin fleeing again from shelters near the Al-Mawasi area as the Israeli army expands its ground offensive and tanks reach southwestern Khan Younis, Gaza, marking their first displacement in nearly a year and a half, on July 10, 2025. [Anadolu Agency/ Hani Alshaer]

‘Smell of blood is everywhere’

Israeli missiles struck the Halimah al-Saadiyah School late at night as people slept.

Reporting from the scene, Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim al-Khalili described the aftermath as “unprecedented.”

“In light of the ongoing Israeli military escalation of attacks targeting various areas across the Gaza Strip, the situation is going from bad to worse,” he said.

“This school had been sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians who fled their homes in eastern parts of the Strip following the Israeli forced displacement orders. Instead of refuge, they were met with death and destruction,” he added.

Al-Khalili painted a grim picture of the destruction: “The smell of the blood is everywhere. The attack came before midnight as people slept, killing them in the very place they once thought was safe.”

With safe spaces rapidly vanishing, Gaza’s displaced now face an increasingly dire reality. “The situation is catastrophic, as many displaced Palestinians have left with nowhere to go,” said Al-Khalili.

Aid site targeted by Israel

Separately, Al Jazeera has received reports that at least 10 Palestinians were killed and 16 wounded near the controversial GHF-run aid centre — the only functioning distribution point in Rafah.

They were transferred to the nearby Nasser Hospital after being shot by Israeli snipers, said Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

“We have heard from locals that a great deal of panic erupted at the site of the aid centre during the attack,” said Azzoum.

He added that security contractors, alongside Israeli forces, later opened fire to disperse desperate crowds seeking food.

“The climbing death toll reflects a blatant Israeli strategy to cause more harm to Palestinians who are trying to get food supplies,” Azzoum said. “People keep taking the risk just to feed their families, despite the fact that aid seekers have been shot at around these centres.”

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Friday that it has recorded at least 798 killings both at aid points run by GHF and near humanitarian convoys run by other relief groups, including the UN.

“Up until the seventh of July, we’ve recorded now 798 killings, including 615 in the vicinity of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, and 183 presumably on the route of aid convoys,” OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.

The GHF began distributing limited food packages in Gaza at the end of May.