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The number of people killed in an Israeli strike on a girls’ elementary school in southern Iran has climbed to 165, according to Iranian state media.
Officials in Minab, a city in Hormozgan province near the Strait of Hormuz, said the attack struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school. The local prosecutor, cited by the IRNA news agency, reported that another 96 people were wounded.
The incident occurred amid a broader wave of coordinated US-Israeli military operations across Iran that began Saturday, heightening tensions across the region.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted an image of the aftermath on social media, saying the strike destroyed the school and killed “innocent children.” He warned that Iran would respond. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei condemned the attack as a “blatant crime” and called on the United Nations Security Council to intervene.
In a separate incident, the Mehr news agency said at least two students were killed when another Israeli strike hit a school east of Tehran.
Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera correspondent Mohamed Vall said the school attacks undermine US and Israeli assertions that their operations are aimed solely at military targets rather than civilians. He noted that Iranian authorities are likely to highlight the casualties as evidence of what they view as violations of international law.
The Israeli military said it had no knowledge of strikes in the reported area, while the US military said it was reviewing the claims.
Video circulating online appeared to show a man holding what he said were the remains of a young child, accusing the United States and Israel of committing war crimes.
Civilian casualties were also significant during the previous round of US-Israeli attacks on Iran in June’s 12-day conflict. Iran’s Ministry of Health has said that fighting during that period left thousands of civilians dead or injured and caused extensive damage to public infrastructure.
With information from Al Jazeera.
