News - World: Josep Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief, has called for an investigation into the Israeli attack on a UN-operated school in Gaza, which resulted in the death of at least 40 people, including 14 children and nine women.

On Thursday, at least 6,000 people were sheltering at the al-Sardi school situated in central Gaza’s Nuseirat camp, when Israeli fighter jets conducted the airstrike using US-made weapons.

"Reports coming from Gaza time and again show that violence and suffering are still the only reality for hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians," Borrell wrote on X.

"This appalling news must be independently investigated, in line with (the) last International Court of Justice (ICJ) order," he said.

Video footage showed Palestinians removing bodies following the incident, occurring during a critical juncture in negotiations for a ceasefire that would entail the release of hostages by Hamas and certain Palestinians abducted by Israel.

The chief of the UN Palestinian refugee agency has reported that Israel carried out an attack on one of its schools in Gaza "without prior warning", where numerous displaced individuals sought refuge.

"Another UNRWA school turned shelter attacked," said Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

"Attacking, targeting or using UN buildings for military purposes are a blatant disregard of International Humanitarian law," he wrote on X on Thursday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Monday, expressed his reluctance to halt the conflict in Gaza, stating that he was “not ready to stop" the war. He also criticized President Biden's comments on the cease-fire suggestion, deeming them as "inaccurate."

Israel is facing allegations of genocide at the ICJ, with the most recent decision requiring Tel Aviv to cease its activities in the southern city of Rafah. This area had become a "safe haven" for over a million Palestinians fleeing the conflict before it was occupied in early May.

Source: Press TV