Palestinians said at least 22 people were killed on Saturday in an Israeli attack on a school sheltering displaced people in southern Gaza City, while the Israeli military said the attack targeted a Hamas command center.
The Gaza health ministry said most of the dead were women and children. The Hamas-run state media office said the dead included 13 children and six women.
The army said it targeted a Hamas command center located in a compound that previously served as a school. The army repeated allegations that the group uses civilian facilities for military purposes. Hamas denies this.
Reuters footage from the scene showed blast-damaged walls, damaged and burnt furniture, and holes in the ceiling of one room as people tried to save their belongings.
“Women and their children were sitting on the school playground, the children were playing, and suddenly two rockets fell on them,” said witness Saeed al-Malahi.
Some of the dead were carried on donkey carts wrapped in blankets, while other bodies were taken by ambulance.
“I couldn’t stand it, I didn’t see a single man injured, there were only women and children, Arab countries should be celebrating, they should be cheering and applauding (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and the United States,” said another witness, Ahmed Azzam. He regretted that regional neighbours were not taking a tougher stance against Israel.
The doctor was killed
The Gaza Health Ministry said four health workers were killed in an Israeli attack in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip that targeted ministry warehouses. It said ambulance crews were unable to reach the dead or treat the injured.
In a statement, the Israeli military said forces operating in Rafah since May had killed dozens of militants and destroyed military infrastructure and tunnel shafts in recent weeks.
Israel’s demand to retain control of the southern border line between Rafah and Egypt has been a major obstacle to international efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement.
Hamas says it is focused on a deal to end the war and expel Israeli forces from Gaza, while Israel says the war can only end once Hamas is wiped out. Another sticking point has been the exclusivity of the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The war in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict began on October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
Israel’s assault on the enclave has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, and displaced nearly the entire population of 2.3 million.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)