During Saturday’s dawn prayer, Israel bombed Al-Tabi’een School, east of Gaza City, killing more than 100 Palestinians and injuring dozens of others.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the recent deadly Israeli attack, saying it held the US administration responsible for the massacre due to its "financial, military, and political support for Israel."
Nabih Abu Rudeineh, the official spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the Israeli attack was "part of a pattern of daily atrocities" committed by Israel in Gaza and the West Bank.
He warned that Israel was "attempting to annihilate the Palestinian people through collective massacres and daily killings while international silence continues."
Qatar, a mediator in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire negotiations, demanded an urgent probe after the latest Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians.
The Qatari foreign ministry said it renews Doha's "demand for an urgent international investigation, including the dispatch of independent UN investigators, to ascertain the facts regarding the Israeli occupation forces' continued targeting of schools and shelters for displaced persons."
Saudi Arabia also condemned the Israeli strike. In a foreign ministry statement, the Kingdom called for an end to the “genocide” taking place in Gaza where Israeli violations of the international humanitarian law are bringing an “unprecedented humanitarian disaster.”
Saudi Arabia also denounced the international community’s failure to hold Israel accountable for its violations.
Hamas denounced the Israeli school strike as a "dangerous escalation" and described the attack as a "horrific crime" against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
"The massacre at Al-Tabi'een School in the Daraj neighbourhood in central Gaza City is a horrific crime that constitutes a dangerous escalation," Hamas said in a statement.
Hezbollah strongly condemned the Israeli school strike, describing the attack as a "horrific massacre," saying it shows Israel is only committed to continuing its assault on Gaza.
The group added that the latest Israeli strike reveals its true intentions and that discussions about a ceasefire and setting new dates for negotiations are "nothing more than lies and deceit."
The spokesman of the Iranian foreign ministry Nasser Kanani condemned "the attack of the child-killing Israeli regime's aerial aggression on the Palestinian refugees, who were performing dawn prayers," Iranian MEHR News Agency reported.
Jordan's foreign ministry said the timing of the school strike "is an indication of the Israeli government's efforts to obstruct and thwart these efforts."
Earlier in the day, Egypt condemned the Israeli brutal attack, especially as it occurred amid intensive mediation efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza.
The Israeli attack came hours after leaders of Egypt, the US, and Qatar called on the Israeli government and Hamas in a joint statement to resume the ceasefire talks next Thursday.
Egypt asserted that this is clear evidence of the lack of Israel's will to end this “fierce war,” the statement pointed out.
Meanwhile, Turkey denounced Israel's deadly strike as a "new crime against humanity," according to a foreign ministry statement.
The strike offered clear evidence of the Israeli government’s disregard for international humanitarian law and its intention to prolong the war and expand its scope, the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
It was “an extension of the brutal massacres and genocide committed by the Israeli occupation for more than ten months in the Gaza Strip,” the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) said.
UK foreign minister David Lammy said that Britain was "appalled" at Israel's deadly airstrike and called for "an immediate ceasefire."
UNICEF said: "Schools and shelters must be protected, and this violence against children must stop."
"In the last 10 months, more than 50 percent of schools used as shelters in Gaza have been directly hit, with devastating consequences for children and families. Schools and shelters must not be attacked. Children need to be safe," the UN agency added.
Meanwhile, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees UNRWA, called for an end to the “horrors unfolding under our watch.”
EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell expressed his horror on X saying, "Horrified by images from a sheltering school in Gaza hit by an Israeli strike, with reportedly dozens of Palestinian victims. At least 10 schools were targeted in the last weeks. There's no justification for these massacres."
France condemned "in the firmest of terms" Israeli strikes on a school housing displaced people in Gaza on Saturday.
"For several weeks, school buildings have been repeatedly targeted, with an intolerable number of civilian victims," it said.
Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories, accused Israel of committing "genocide" in its brutal war on Gaza after the deadly Israeli strike.
"In the largest and most shameful concentration camp of the 21st century, Israel is genociding the Palestinians one neighbourhood at a time, one hospital at a time, one school at a time, one refugee camp at a time, one 'safe zone' at a time, with US and European weapons," Albanese said on social media platform X.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), decried the Israeli school strike, asking: "How many more women and children will lose their lives before a ceasefire?"
In a post on X, he added: "The horror that (Palestinian) civilians in Gaza are enduring must end."
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif demanded that Israel be tried for its genocide and war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank.
"We once again reiterate our demand that the Israeli leadership and security forces be brought to justice for the genocide of Palestinians and war crimes committed in Palestine," he stated.
Similarly, Iraq condemned the Israeli strike, warning that Israel's targeting of Palestinian civilians in Gaza is "a blatant violation of international norms and conventions."
"They also demonstrate Israel's disregard for global efforts aimed at achieving a ceasefire in Gaza," the Iraqi Foreign Ministry added in a statement.
Russia urged Israel to stop targeting civilians in its war on Gaza, expressing deep shock over the deadly airstrike.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that such Israeli strikes threaten to derail international efforts toward a ceasefire and a deal for the release of captives, noting that Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians in its war on Gaza appear to be systematic.
"We believe there is no and can be no justification for such actions," she added.
The White House released a statement following the Israeli school strike, saying: "We are in touch with our Israeli counterparts, who have said they targeted senior Hamas officials, and we are asking for further details."
The statement added that the Biden administration has asked Israel "repeatedly and consistently" to take measures to minimize what it described as "civilian harm" in Gaza and expressed mourning for every Palestinian civilian killed and wounded in Israel’s Gaza war.
It also emphasised the urgency of a ceasefire in Gaza and a deal for the release of captives held by Hamas.
The Arab Parliament strongly condemned the Israeli school strike, calling the massacre of a school housing displaced Palestinians "a cowardly act of terrorism" and a flagrant violation of international laws and norms.
It added that Israel carried out the "terrorist and inhumane act" while significant efforts were being made to reach a final and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, noting that it reflects Israel’s "criminal nature" and ongoing commitment to "genocidal crimes" against Palestinians in Gaza.
Save the Children regional director Tamer Kirolos described the Israeli strike as the "deadliest attack on a school" since Israel launched its bloodiest-ever war on Gaza in October.
Kirolos said he was devastated by the impact of the attack that killed "so many children and people at the school for dawn prayers," noting that "children make up around 40 percent of the population and of people killed and injured" in Israel’s assault on Gaza, now nearing 11 months.
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