Minab school strike: what happened and why it may be investigated as a war crime

On February 28, 2026, a primary school in Minab, Hormozgan province, was struck during the opening day of joint U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, according to Human Rights Watch ^[7]. Amnesty International said the strike killed 156 people, including 120 children; Human Rights Watch later cited at least 175 deaths, including many children ^[13][7]. Those figures differ, but they point to the same central issue: a school was hit with mass civilian casualties, and rights groups say the incident needs a transparent war-crimes investigation rather than an unresolved internal review ^[12][13].

What is known about the strike

The site has been described as a primary school in Minab, in southern Iran’s Hormozgan province ^[13]. Reports on the European Parliament intervention described it as a girls’ elementary school ^[2]. Human Rights Watch said the February 28 attack took place before midday and “reportedly killed scores of civilians, including schoolchildren” ^[12].

The casualty count is one of the areas where reporting varies. Amnesty International’s published figure was 156 people killed, including 120 children ^[13]. Human Rights Watch’s later analysis put the toll at at least 175 people, including many children ^[7]. For that reason, the most careful shorthand is that the strike killed more than 150 people, unless citing a specific organization’s figure.

Who is alleged to be responsible

Attribution is a major reason investigators and rights groups are calling for public findings. Human Rights Watch reported that, despite President Trump’s immediate denial of responsibility, the U.S. military’s initial assessment found that U.S. forces were likely behind the attack; HRW also cautioned that a full investigation could take months to reach final conclusions ^[7].

Amnesty International went further in its March statement, describing the incident as a deadly and unlawful U.S. strike and saying those responsible for planning and executing it must be held accountable ^[13]. Human Rights Watch separately called on both the United States and Israel to assess their responsibility and make their findings public ^[12].

Why Milan Uhrík is calling it a possible war crime

Milan Uhrík, a member of the European Parliament, called for an immediate and impartial investigation after a memorial gathering outside the Iranian embassy in Brussels, according to reporting cited by The Express Tribune ^[2]. He said the strike may have been deliberate and could constitute a war crime ^[2].

That is a political and legal allegation, not a court ruling. But it overlaps with the concerns raised by rights groups: if a civilian school was intentionally attacked, or if an attack caused civilian harm that was excessive compared with any expected military gain, the incident can fall within the laws-of-war framework for possible war crimes ^[12].

The legal issue in plain English

The war-crime question does not depend only on the fact that a school was hit. It depends on what the attackers knew, what they were trying to strike, what precautions they took, and whether the expected civilian harm was disproportionate.

Human Rights Watch summarized the relevant rule this way: the laws of war prohibit attacks when the anticipated harm to civilians and civilian objects is disproportionate compared with the expected military gain ^[12]. Amnesty International’s investigation found that the U.S. violated international humanitarian law by failing to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian harm, and said U.S. authorities must ensure a transparent, thorough investigation whose results are made public ^[13].

That distinction matters. Uhrík’s comments focus on suspicion that the strike may have been deliberate ^[2]. The rights-group case also includes a second route: even without proving intent to hit schoolchildren, an attack may be unlawful if commanders failed to take required precautions or if the civilian toll was disproportionate ^[12][13].

What remains unresolved

The available sources do not provide a completed public investigation or a judicial finding. The key unresolved questions include the final attribution, the exact death toll, the intelligence used to select the target, what precautions were taken, and whether any commander or planner acted unlawfully. Human Rights Watch explicitly noted that a full investigation may take months, while Amnesty called for the investigation to be transparent, thorough, and public ^[7][13].

For now, the strongest supported conclusion is narrower than the most sweeping claims: the Minab school strike is the subject of serious, source-backed allegations that warrant an independent war-crimes investigation, but the public record cited here does not amount to a final legal judgment ^[12][13].