Türkiye condemns deadly Israeli attack on Gaza school, urges action

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has condemned an Israeli attack on the United Nations' Al Fakhoura school in the Jabalia refugee camp in Palestine's northern Gaza Strip.

"We strongly condemn Israel's attack on the Al Fakhoura school operated by the UN in Gaza on November 18, which resulted in the killing of dozens of innocent Palestinian children," the ministry said in a statement early on Sunday.

It said the attack is further evidence that Israel “deliberately and ruthlessly" targets civilians, especially children, in Gaza.

The number of women and children who have been killed at the hands of Israel in Gaza in the last five weeks is "a source of shame for humanity," it added.

The international community should no longer "turn a blind eye to Israel undermining law and all humanitarian values with the grave crimes it has committed," said the ministry.

"Those responsible for these massacres, which have already left a dark stain on human history, will definitely be held accountable for the indescribable pain they have caused."

More than 12,000 Palestinians killed

Reiterating Türkiye's calls for an immediate, unconditional and lasting ceasefire in Gaza, the ministry called on "every conscientious member of the international community to take the necessary steps in this direction.”

Dozens were killed and injured on Saturday in an Israeli bombardment of the UN-run learning centre in the refugee camp.

Israel launched airstrikes and later a ground incursion after an October 7 attack by Palestinian resistance group, Hamas.

The Israeli onslaught has since killed more than 12,000 people, most of them women and children, flattened thousands of civilian structures, and enforced a full blockade leading to a shortage of basic supplies such as food, fuel and medicine.