Overview
- Human Rights Watch found US-supplied GBU-39 bombs were used in deadly attacks on displacement shelters at two Gaza schools in 2024 with no evidence of military targets.
- The report documents more than 500 Israeli airstrikes on school buildings since October 2023, including ten strikes between July 1 and 10, 2025, that killed 59 people.
- HRW warns that the repeated targeting of protected civilian infrastructure in Gaza may constitute war crimes under international humanitarian law.
- The US State Department rejected the report’s findings and defended continued arms sales, citing Israeli investigations into civilian casualties.
- United Nations agencies and rights organisations are calling to stop arms transfers as Gaza’s schools remain among the few shelters for nearly one million displaced Palestinians.