Children, Civlians Burned Alive as Israeli Warplanes Target School, Home in Gaza

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  
May 26, 2025

Eyewitnesses described a hellish scene of flames and screams after Israeli warplanes struck sites sheltering civilians.

At least 50 Palestinians were killed on Monday morning in two Israeli airstrikes that targeted a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City and a residential home in Jabaliya, northern Gaza.

A medical source told Anadolu news Agency that the death toll from the strike on the Fahmi al-Jarjawi School in Gaza City’s al-Daraj neighborhood had risen to 30. The school had been sheltering dozens of displaced families.

Eyewitness videos circulated online showed horrifying scenes of burned bodies—many of them children—as tents surrounding the school were engulfed in flames.

Al-Aqsa TV and other local sources reported that a fire swept through the shelter following the bombing. One report described the scene: “Charred corpses and the screams of displaced people engulfed in flames were seen and heard from the site.”

The Israeli military later confirmed the strike, claiming the school had been converted into a “Hamas command and control center,” though no evidence was provided to support the allegation.

In a separate incident, 19 more people were killed and others wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a multi-story residential building in Jabalia town, northern Gaza, according to medical sources.

Eyewitnesses reported that the building, which was housing dozens of displaced families, was completely destroyed.

Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera reported that casualties from the Gaza City school attack were transported to Al-Ma’amdani and Al-Shifa hospitals amid collapsing health conditions across the Strip.

In central Gaza, an Israeli drone strike on a kindergarten sheltering displaced civilians in the Maghazi camp killed at least one person and wounded several others.

These attacks come amid a broader escalation in Israeli bombardment.

On Sunday, Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that 32 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes across the Strip, from Beit Lahia in the north to Khan Yunis in the south.

The Israeli military also claimed that three rockets were fired from southern Gaza on Monday toward surrounding areas. One was reportedly intercepted, with the army noting eight total rocket launches over the past week.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel—backed by the United States—has carried out a relentless military campaign across the Gaza Strip. Over 175,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded, the vast majority women and children.

More than 14,000 remain missing under the rubble, and hundreds of thousands have been forcibly displaced.

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