The EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said he was “shocked” after an Israeli airstrike on Saturday hit a school in Gaza that was housing residents, killing at least 100 people, according to Palestinian authorities.
“At least 10 schools have been targeted in recent weeks. There is no justification for these massacres,” he wrote on X.
“We are shocked by the horrific total death toll,” he added, adding that more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began in October.
The Palestinian Health Ministry, which is controlled by the militant Islamist group Hamas, puts the death toll in Gaza at more than 39,600. The figure does not distinguish between civilians and fighters and cannot be independently verified.
Israel has repeatedly stated that it attacks such facilities because Israeli intelligence has revealed that Hamas members are hiding there and using civilians as shields.
Borrell said that “a ceasefire is the only way to stop the killing of civilians and achieve the release of the hostages.”
The EU diplomat also used the post to criticize far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who lobbied against a ceasefire on Thursday and told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to fall into a “dangerous trap” with a ceasefire agreement.
Borrell condemned Smotrich’s comments, saying they “go against the interests of the Israeli people.”
