A senior UN official has confirmed that the Israeli military turned a school in the Gaza Strip into a military base during July’s ground offensive. The comments last week by Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Leila Zerrougui corroborate a report that was published in The Times on August 5 (‘Invaders turn abandoned school into command base’).

Addressing a Security Council debate on children and armed conflict, Zerrougui said 244 schools, including 75 UNRWA schools, “were shelled by Israel’s armed forces”, adding that “one school was used as a military base by the IDF.” Although she did not name the school, it has been confirmed to me this was a reference to Hani Naim Agriculture Secondary School for Boys in Beit Hanoun.

The piece in The Times which appeared early August describes in detail the scene after the soldiers had left, when residents “discovered that in the past four weeks the school had been turned into a command centre for the Israeli army”.

– Read more: UN Official Confirms Israeli Soldiers Launched Attacks from inside Gaza School – Ben White, Middle East Monitor