The Canadian government is denouncing an Israeli airstrike that struck a mosque in a school compound in Gaza on August 10th. Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly stated that the bombing resulted in civilian casualties. The Israeli Ambassador to Canada countered by stating that the strike targeted terrorists.
“Israel must abide by international humanitarian law. Hamas must cease endangering civilian lives,” she added.
Israel’s Ambassador to Canada, Iddo Moed, responded to Joly and Global Affairs Canada following the comment posted on the social media platform.
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“Today (Saturday), the IDF and ISA struck terrorists operating in a Hamas command and control center, which was embedded inside a mosque in the Al-Taba’een school compound,” the statement read.
Reports by Hamas
According to Gaza’s Civil Emergency Service, a Hamas-run agency, approximately 100 individuals were killed in the airstrike. Various Arab states, Turkey, Britain, the United States, and the European Union’s foreign policy chief have condemned the attack.
During a televised press conference on August 10th, Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for Hamas-run Gaza’s Civil Defence, stated that the school compound was targeted while occupants were engaged in dawn prayers. He reported that casualties included 11 children.
Fadel Naeem, director of al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, informed The Associated Press in an interview on August 10th that his hospital received 70 bodies along with body parts of at least 10 others. Gaza’s Health Ministry indicated that another 47 individuals were injured.
‘Unverified’
The IDF and ISA contested the casualty toll asserted by Hamas officials.
“The strike utilized three precise munitions, which, according to professional analysis, could not have caused the reported level of damage as claimed by the Hamas-run Government Information Office in Gaza. Additionally, no substantial damage was inflicted on the compound where the terrorists were located,” they stated in their release.
“These figures fail to differentiate between combatants and non-combatants, and they do not align with the information held by the IDFs,” he remarked.
The statement from the IDF and ISA indicated that the school compound, including the mosque that was targeted within it, was utilized by terrorists as a base to “plan and execute attacks against IDF soldiers and the State of Israel from inside the compound.”
The IDF and ISA claim that Hamas “consistently violates international law and operates from within civilian infrastructure and shelters, maliciously using the civilian population and institutions as human shields for their terror activities.”
Responding to a request for comment from The Epoch Times, a Global Affairs Canada spokesperson stated “we have nothing further to add” to Joly’s statement posted on X.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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