ANKARA 

Qatar called on Thursday for sending independent UN investigators to probe the ongoing Israeli attacks on schools and shelters in the war-torn Gaza Strip.

At least 18 people were killed in two Israeli airstrikes on the UN-run al-Jaouni School, where around 12,000 displaced civilians have sheltered, in the Nuseirat refugee camp on Wednesday, according to local health authorities.

At least six staff members of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) were among the victims, including the manager of the UNRWA shelter in the area.

The attack was the fifth to have targeted the same school since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023.

In a statement, the Qatari Foreign Ministry strongly condemned Israel’s repeated bombing of the UN-run school.

“This horrifying massacre is the latest evidence of the occupation's criminal approach and its contempt for the principles of international humanitarian law,” the ministry said.

It reiterated its call for an urgent international investigation, including the dispatch of independent UN investigators, “to investigate the ongoing attacks by occupation forces on schools and shelters for displaced people.”

Israel has systematically targeted civilian facilities, including schools, hospitals, and places of worship, amid its ongoing offensive on the Gaza Strip.

Under the rules of war, targeting such civilian facilities can constitute a war crime.

Last month, at least 100 people were killed and dozens injured in an Israeli strike on the Al-Taba’een School in Gaza City, where over 6,000 displaced people have sheltered.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since a cross-border incursion last October by the Palestinian group Hamas, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

Nearly 41,100 people, mostly women and children, have since been killed and more than 95,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel faces accusations of genocide for its actions in Gaza at the International Court of Justice.