The Biden administration "must respond to the reported execution-style massacre of women, children, and babies," said the spokesperson of a U.S. Muslim advocacy group.
Screenshot of outside the school where the alleged massacre occurred
By Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams
Eyewitness testimony reported Wednesday by Al Jazeera accused Israeli troops of massacring forcibly displaced women and children sheltering at a school in northern Gaza, an allegation that prompted a leading U.S. Muslim advocacy group to demand a response from President Joe Biden.
The reported massacre took place at the Shadia Abu Ghazala School in the al-Faluja area west of the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. Video footage aired by the Qatar-based news network showed numerous covered bodies piled in one of the school's classrooms.
"The Israeli soldiers came in and opened fire on them," one unidentified witness said. "They took all men, then entered classrooms and opened fire on a woman and all the children with her," including "newborn children."
"The Israeli soldiers executed those innocent families point-blank," she added.
A man who arrived at the scene after the alleged mass murder told Al Jazeera that "we found dozens of dead bodies in the classrooms."
"There is no sign of any missiles or shells," he added. "All those who were in the buildings were executed from point-blank. The Israeli soldiers opened fire on them. Many families came searching for their children. They found them all killed. They were all killed, executed at gunpoint."
As of press time, the alleged massacre had not been independently verified.
Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said in a statement that "because the Biden administration stands almost alone on the world stage in defending and enabling the far-right Israeli government's campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza, administration officials must respond to the reported execution-style massacre of women, children, and babies seeking refuge in a school in Gaza."
“Our nation must stop enabling what even President Biden privately admits is the 'indiscriminate' targeting of innocent Palestinians," he added.
Also on Wednesday, Palestinians sheltering in the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza said Israeli troops stormed the facility after days of shelling and siege.
"Conditions in the hospital are dire with no water or electricity," one survivor told Al Jazeera. "Bodies are scattered on the ground."
An elderly man told the network that "the Israeli army used loudspeakers to demand the evacuation of the displaced individuals from the hospital," but IDF troops subsequently shot people trying to flee the facility.
Gaza health officials said Wednesday that at least 18,608 Palestinians—most of them women and children—have been killed by Israeli bombs and bullets since October 7, with over 50,000 more Palestinians wounded.
Additionally, more than 1.9 million Gazans—or upward of 85% of the strip's population—have been forcibly displaced since October 7, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams.
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