Thousands of Iranians gathered in the streets of Southern Iran for the funeral of more than 175 girls and staff who were killed by a US-Israeli airstrike on a girls’ primary school.
The strike on the Shajare Tayyiba Elementary School was the worst mass casualty event of the US-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran so far. International media have not been able to independently verify the death toll, as restrictions in Iran limit the ability to gather information.
Before the funeral in Iran’s Hormozgan province in Minab on Tuesday, rows of graves were dug at a cemetery near the school. Iran’s state media showed parents holding photographs of their children who they lost in the strike, and coffins draped in the flag of the Islamic Republic were carried through the large crowds.
An aerial image of the rows of graves was distributed by the Iranian Press Center.
UNESCO described the US-Israeli bombing as “a grave violation” of the protection schools are afforded under international humanitarian law, warning that “attacks against educational institutions endanger students and teachers and undermine the right to education.”
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, a survivor of a Taliban attack targeting girls’ education, said she was “heartbroken and appalled” by the strike. She called the killing of civilians, especially children, “unconscionable.”
“They were girls who went to school to learn, with hopes and dreams for their future. Today, their lives were brutally cut short,” she said.
According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, more than 1,000 civilians have been killed since 28 February, including 181 children under the age 18.
The UN human rights office has called for “a prompt, impartial and thorough investigation” into the attack on the school.