Very little, and none of it on the record.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, on March 4: “We, of course, never target civilian targets, but we’re taking a look and investigating that.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on March 3: U.S. forces “would not deliberately target a school.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt: Has not ruled out U.S. involvement. Has not confirmed it. Has not provided a timeline for the investigation’s conclusion.
CENTCOM: Provided a statement to the New York Times on February 28 that read, in full: “We are aware of reports concerning civilian harm resulting from ongoing military operations.” CENTCOM did not respond to PolitiFact’s request for comment. It has not publicly acknowledged investigating the strike.
The Trump administration did, however, tell members of Congress something in a closed-door briefing this week that it has not said publicly: that Israel was not responsible for the school strike. Two U.S. officials confirmed this to NBC News. The administration’s own internal briefing excludes its military partner. The remaining responsible party, by process of elimination, is the United States.
No official has said that publicly. No one has been named. No targeting criteria have been disclosed. No explanation has been given for why a school that has appeared on publicly available satellite imagery since 2016 was on a U.S. strike list on February 28, 2026.
What International Law Says
UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay issued a formal condemnation on March 1, calling the strike “a grave violation of humanitarian law.” The statement was specific: “Attacks against educational institutions endanger students and teachers and undermine the right to education.” UNESCO called for accountability.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the strike. The UN Human Rights Office stated that deliberately attacking a school “would constitute a war crime under international humanitarian law.”
A panel of UN independent experts — including the Special Rapporteur on the right to education and the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls — issued a formal statement calling the strike “among the most flagrant examples of how conflict can steal girls’ futures in an instant.” They called for “an independent and impartial investigation” and stressed that “civilians must never be treated as collateral.”
Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai, herself a survivor of a targeted school attack, called the strike “unbearable” and said she condemned it “with all my heart.”
The legal accountability landscape is complicated. The United States is not a signatory to the International Criminal Court. Iran has historically not cooperated with international investigators. The UN Security Council, where the U.S. holds a permanent veto, is structurally blocked from compelling accountability. The path from condemnation to consequence, based on historical precedent, is not short.