IDF denies Israeli mortars killed Gazans at UNRWA school

The Israeli army concludes its inquiry into the fatal incident at the UN facility in Beit Hanoun on Thursday, finding that IDF mortars did not play a role in the killing of 16 people in a school courtyard there. “A single errant mortar landed in the school courtyard,” Lt. Col. Peter Lerner says in a conference call, “injuring no one.”

The army says it has footage, to be sent out shortly, of a completely empty courtyard at the time.

Lerner describes a scene of “intense fighting” in the vicinity of the school, including a volley of anti-tank missiles fired at soldiers, who responded with live fire. The militant fire, Lerner says, came from the areas “adjacent to, and in the vicinity of, the school.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_rhjJ0JY1Q

He suggests that the 16 dead and dozens of wounded could have been caught in the crossfire and brought into the courtyard, or may have been hit by rockets or mortars fired by militants.

He adds that the Palestinian medical authorities, in a decision he terms “out of the ordinary,” did not share the nature of the wounds of the casualties, which would have indicated the cause of death.

— Mitch Ginsburg