On February 28, the opening day of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, two direct strikes tore through the Shajareh Tayyebeh children’s school in the Iranian city of Minab, killing at least 156 people, including 120 children. Drop Site News reported that a United Nations fact-finding mission concluded the strike was a war crime, while the Trump administration has yet to acknowledge U.S. responsibility for the massacre.
Two Direct Strikes and a Follow-Up Attack on First Responders
The devastation at the Shajareh Tayyebeh school unfolded in waves that left little room for survival. Lead investigative author Jeremy Scahill noted for Drop Site News that the incident extended far beyond a single errant munition or standard calculation of collateral damage. At least two direct hits struck the educational facility while it was packed with children.
The tragedy deepened roughly two hours after those initial explosions. As parents rushed to the scene and local first responders converged on the wreckage to pull victims from the debris, the U.S. launched additional strikes on the location.
This was not a single bombing or collateral damage. There were at least two direct hits on a school packed with children … and a couple of hours after those initial hits, as first responders came, as parents came, the U.S. launches more strikes. — Jeremy Scahill, Drop Site News
According to the detailed findings compiled by Drop Site News through interviews with survivors, first responders, parents, and witnesses, the death toll climbed to 156. Beyond the 120 children who lost their lives, the victims included 26 teachers and a group of parents who had arrived at the grounds.
Satellite Evidence and the Shift in Facility Use
Questions surrounding the targeting of the Minab facility focus heavily on its historical designation and recent physical markers. Scahill pointed out that the area operated as a facility for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps until 2013, a detail likely factored into military targeting databases.
However, visual evidence captured in satellite photographs from just weeks before the February 28 bombing showed a completely different reality on the ground. The images clearly displayed murals painted on the walls, an active soccer field, and the shadows of tiny people playing outside, indicating the site functioned as an active civilian school long before the war began.
Despite the conclusions reached by the United Nations fact-finding mission labeling the operation a war crime, accountability remains stalled. The administration in Washington has neither addressed the findings nor accepted responsibility for the strikes that decimated the Minab school.
