At least 30 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on a school that had been housing displaced people in Gaza, Palestinian health officials said.
On the other hand Israel’s military said it had struck a Hamas command centre in the school complex.
Casualties
Fifteen children and eight women were among those killed in the strike on the school in the central town of Deir Al-Balah, the Hamas-run government media office said.
The media office and the Gaza health ministry said more than 100 people were wounded.
Statement of the Israeli Military
The Israeli military said that it had targeted a “Hamas command and control center inside the Khadija school in central Gaza”.
It further said that the school was being used to launch attacks against troops and as a weapons cache.
The Israeli military said that it had warned civilians before the strike.
Scene at Al-Asqua Hospital
Ambulances brought in many wounded Palestinians into the medical facility at al-The Israeli military hospital.
Some of the injured were in blood-stained clothes. They arrived on foot.
Reuters footage showed people returning to the spot of bombing to check on their belongings.
Damage To Public Property
Walls were blasted and debris scattered in the schoolyard.
Some cars were also damaged in the schoolyard.
A Mother Narrates Her Experience
Um Hasan Ali, a displaced woman living at the school, was among those who faced the trauma.
Um said she had taken her daughter to Egypt for medical treatment and returned only a few months back.
She had taken her daughter there for medical treatment.
Um said that her daughter was wounded in the strike and had to be hospitalized.
Another Eye-Witness Account
Another woman, Ibtihal Ahmed, told Reuters she was sitting in a neighbour’s tent when she heard heavy strikes.
Israel’s military has blamed the militant Islamist group Hamas for operating within densely populated neighbourhoods, schools and hospitals as cover.
Hamas denies this.
Khan Younis Fighting
Earlier on Saturday, Palestinian official media said that at least 14 Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks in Khan Younis.
Their bodies were brought to Nasser Medical Complex.
The Israeli military told Palestinians to temporarily evacuate southern neighborhoods of Khan Younis so it could “forcefully operate” there.
It told the residents to relocate to a humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi, a military statement said.
The military said it had communicated evacuation calls to the population via several mediums to mitigate danger to civilians.
In Al-Bureij refugee camp, five Palestinians were killed previously in an Israeli air strike on a house.
Medics said that four others were killed in another strike on a house in Rafah, near the border with Egypt.
UN Officials Blame Israel
U.N. and humanitarian officials accuse Israel of using disproportionate force in the war.
They have also accused Israel of failing to ensure that civilians have safe places to go.
The military said on Friday that troops battled Palestinian fighters in Khan Younis, and destroyed tunnels and other infrastructure.
The fighting, over nine months after the start of Israel’s invasion of Gaza following the Hamas-led October 7 attack, underlined the
difficulty the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) has
in eliminating fighters of the group amid continued resistance.
In Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, blamed the United States.
Nabil blamed the escalating Israeli attacks on the support of the United States.
More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes in the enclave since the war began.
Gaza health authorities, who do not distinguish between fighters and non-combatants, gave these figures.
Israeli officials say that some 14,000 fighters from militant groups have been killed or taken prisoner.
Around 1,200 people were killed and 250 were taken hostage in the October 7 raid on Southern Israel.
(With Inputs From Reuters)
