Death toll in Israeli strike on southern Iran school rises to 165
Officials reported the death toll from the attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in Minab.
The death toll from an Israeli strike that hit an elementary girls’ school in Minab, a city in the Hormozgan province of southern Iran, has risen to 165 people, Iranian state media reported.
The local prosecutor of Minab was quoted by news agency IRNA on Sunday as saying 96 other people were injured in the strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school amid a massive United States-Israeli offensive launched Saturday morning.
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The strike is part of a wave of joint US-Israeli military attacks across Iran that has triggered an outbreak of regional violence.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi shared a photo of the attack, which he said destroyed the girls’ school and killed “innocent children”.
“These crimes against the Iranian People will not go unanswered,” Araghchi wrote in a post on X.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei also slammed the “blatant crime” and urged action from the United Nations Security Council.
Separately, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported that at least two students were killed by another Israeli attack that hit a school east of the capital, Tehran.
The destroyed building is a primary school for girls in the south of Iran. It was bombed in broad daylight, when packed with young pupils.
Dozens of innocent children have been murdered at this site alone.
These crimes against the Iranian People will not go unanswered. pic.twitter.com/AVqiuolgWm
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) February 28, 2026
Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall said the attacks call into question US and Israeli claims that “they are targeting only military targets and they are trying to punish the regime, not the people of Iran”.
“US President Donald Trump has promised the Iranian people that aid or help is coming their way, but now we are seeing civilian casualties. That’s something that the Iranian government will stress as a case of violation of international law and an aggression against the Iranian people,” said Vall.
The Israeli military said it was not aware of strikes in the area. The US military said it was looking into the reports.
Footage circulating on social media showed a man clutching the remains of a child, which he said were those of a six- or seven-year-old, as he accused the US and Israel of war crimes.
The last time the US and Israel waged attacks on Iran in the 12-day war last June, the civilian toll in Iran was also heavy.
According to Iran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education, thousands of civilians were killed or injured, and public infrastructure was damaged, during that conflict.