[4][5] At around 4:40 during Fajr morning prayers in the Al-Tabaeen school, which was being used to house roughly 6,000 refugees and internally displaced Palestinian citizens, three rockets struck the building, causing the structure to collapse.

[3] Analysing the IDF's official explanations, the Israeli investigative journalist Meron Rapoport concluded that "the army bombed a populated shelter knowing full well the deadly repercussions its assault would inflict.

"[13] A CNN weapons expert identified shrapnel evident in footage from the aftermath of the attack as coming from a GBU-39 manufactured by the US-based Boeing.

[16][17] At around 4:40 during Fajr morning prayers in the Al-Tabaeen school, which was being used to house roughly 6,000 refugees and internally displaced Palestinian citizens, three rockets struck the building, causing the structure to collapse.

[11][20] Due to the impact of the rockets, a fire started that caused several more casualties from victims who survived the initial blast but were trapped in the rubble and debris.

Rescue workers who arrived at the scene and attempted to put out the blaze were unable to free several of those trapped under the wreckage before they were overcome by the spreading smoke and fire, which reportedly included whole families.

"[23] The IDF and Shin Bet initially released the names of 19 people, and later a further 12, that they said had been killed in the strike and alleged that they were Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) militants.

[8] Preliminary investigation performed by the Euro-Med Monitor found no evidence of the presence of militants or military equipment in Al-Tabaeen school.

The human rights group concluded the very structure of the building, with its narrow layout, would have made it "impossible for the site to be used for military operations".

[32] A CNN weapons expert identified shrapnel evident in footage from the aftermath of the attack as coming from a GBU-39 manufactured by the US-based Boeing.

[9] The Gaza Government's media office called the attacks a "massacre" that fell "within the framework of the crime of genocide and ethnic cleansing against our Palestinian people."

It further accused the Israeli army of directly bombing a location holding displaced people while performing Fajr prayer in order to increase the number of civilians killed at once.

[11] Palestinian deputy prime minister Nabil Abu Rudeineh stated U.S. weapons transfers were "directly responsible for this massacre".

[33] Hamas denied that the school was being used as a command and control center and described the attack as a "horrific crime and a dangerous escalation" in Israel's "war of extermination against the Palestinian people".

"[42] In a statement, the UN Human Rights Office condemned Israel's increasing frequency of attacks on schools and stated the strike was "conducted with apparent disregard for the high rate of civilian fatalities.