The dawn prayer massacre at the Al-Tabieen school in Gaza City, where Israeli occupation forces targeted worshippers and unarmed civilians, is an act of genocide and a dangerous escalation, stressed Izzat al-Rishq, member of the Hamas Political Bureau.

Gaza's Civil Defense agency said 11 children and six women were among the 93 Palestinians killed at the school shelter, adding that there are "many unidentified body parts."

Al-Rishq accused on Saturday the Israeli occupation forces of fabricating baseless excuses to justify their attacks on civilians, schools, hospitals, and displaced persons' tents, affirming that there were no Resistance fighters inside the Al-Tabieen school.

New scenes document the scale of the massacre committed by the Israeli occupation against displaced people at Al-Tabieen school in the al-Daraj neighborhood, central #Gaza City.#GazaGenocide #Palestine https://t.co/ulWZAGKij7

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) August 10, 2024

The Israeli occupation military claimed that it killed at least 19 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters who were operating from a command and control center located in the school.

It also claimed that the strike "was carried out using three precise munitions," adding that "no severe damage was caused to the compound."

Al-Rishq, however, asserted that all Resistance factions strictly adhere to a policy of avoiding civilian areas to prevent them from becoming targets of Israeli aggression.

The Hamas official dismissed the Israeli claims that measures were taken to minimize civilian casualties through the use of smart weapons, pointing out that all martyrs and dozens of injured were civilians, with not a single fighter present among them.

"If these are smart US weapons and kill all this number of civilians, this shows the extent of the stupidity of this army and its leaders, and that its weapons are (dumb) weapons, not smart," al-Rishq further added.

Hamas statement says IOF sought to hide 'heinous crime'

Hamas affirmed, in a statement, that the Israeli occupation's narrative regarding the Al-Tabieen school massacre is misleading and false.

The movement indicated that the occupation's announcement of a list that includes 19 martyrs, claiming they were Resistance fighters, among more than 100 civilians killed by the occupation in cold blood, is nothing more than an attempt to "justify its heinous crime" in light of widespread international criticism.

The movement asserted that the occupation forces' claims were false and baseless, stating that none of those martyred in the massacre were armed; all were civilians targeted while performing the dawn prayer.

Hamas pointed out that the list of 19 mentioned includes children, civilian employees, university professors, and religious figures, most of whom have no connection to any political or military activity.

The movement stressed in its statement that the Al-Daraj neighborhood massacre is one of thousands of massacres committed by the occupation in the Gaza Strip, where unarmed civilians were deliberately targeted. Hamas clarified that the occupation deliberately spreads such lies after each massacre it commits in order to justify its heinous crimes, which has become evident to all observers.

UK Foreign Secretary statements are sign of complicity

In a separate statement, Hamas viewed the comments made by British Foreign Secretary David Lammy regarding the massacre, in which he called on the movement to stop endangering civilians, as a heinous alignment with the false narrative of the occupation. This narrative claims that schools and displacement centers are being used for military purposes to justify targeting civilians.

Hamas considered the British Foreign Secretary's statements a blatant attempt to evade his country's legal, political, and moral responsibility for the continuation of this brutal genocide by continuing to provide political and military support to the occupation.

Hamas reminded that humanitarian organizations, through their reports, as well as the United Nations and its agencies, have documented horrific crimes against unarmed civilians in cities, camps, schools, hospitals, and shelter centers, where the number of martyrs has reached around forty thousand, more than two-thirds of whom are women and children.

The movement condemned these positions, which are complicit with the massacre, and called on Minister Lammy, the British government, and Western governments, especially the US administration, to immediately retract this path, which makes them actual partners in war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and genocide in the Gaza Strip, and to pressure the occupation government to stop the deliberate massacres against civilians.

Hamas renewed its call to the United Nations and the international community to form international investigative committees, enter the Gaza Strip and the shelter and displacement centers, verify the occupation army's false claims, and expose its ongoing crimes.

Read more: Al-Quds Brigades calls for mobilization after Israeli massacre in Gaza