The horrific aftermath of a deadly school attack

Early last Saturday morning, Louay Nasser decided to perform the dawn prayer in the classroom he and his family are living in at Tabeen school in Gaza City, rather than go across the courtyard to the mosque. That decision may have saved his life.

- Bethan McKernan JERUSALEM and Malak A Tantesh GAZA

As soon as he stood up to start praying, there was what he described as a "bright red light" and the sound of a strong explosion. The 30-year-old ran outside to see what had happened and froze in shock at the scene before him.

"There were pieces of men, women and children lying in front of me... heads separated from bodies," Nasser said. "It was very difficult, but the worst was the man who was on fire, running and screaming. We ran over to him and put out the fire." At least 80 people were killed in three Israeli missile strikes on the school, where about 6,000 displaced people were sheltering, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. The attack is one of the deadliest during the war between the Palestinian militant group and Israel, following Hamas's 7 October attack on Israel.

Manal al-Jabari, 21, lost seven of her extended family members in the attack, and another 10 were injured.

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