Gaza’s civil defense agency said at least 30 Palestinians were killed in a series of Israeli strikes on Thursday, with the Israeli military confirming it had targeted Hamas militants in an attack.
More than 14 months after the Israel-Hamas war, violence in the Gaza Strip is still rocking the coastal enclave, while international mediators work to negotiate a ceasefire.
At least 13 people, including women and children, were killed in the attacks on two schools in eastern Gaza City, according to Civil Protection Agency spokesman Mahmoud Bassal.
“At least 13 martyrs, including children and women, have been killed as a result of the siege targeting the Sha’ban al-Rayz school and al-Karama school in the al-Darraj area of ​​eastern Gaza City,” Bassal told AFP.
He said at least 30 others were injured.
Hundreds of Palestinians displaced by the war were at two schools when the attacks occurred.
“Occupy continues its policy of targeting displaced people and the shelters housing them,” Bassel said.
The army said it had carried out a “precision strike on militants” operating in the schools’ compound located in the al-Draj neighborhood.
“Hamas terrorists used these compounds to plan and carry out terrorist activities and terrorist attacks against IDF (military) troops and the State of Israel,” the military said in a statement.
In a separate attack, another 13 people were killed when an Israeli warplane targeted a group of Palestinians flooding the al-Shati refugee camp in western Gaza City, Bassal said.
Four additional people were reported killed in another attack on a house in the al-Darraj neighborhood of eastern Gaza City.
There was no immediate reaction from the army on the attacks on the house and al-Shati camp.
Amid the ongoing violence, the United States, Egypt and Qatar are engaged in renewed talks to end the fighting and secure the release of dozens of hostages still held by militants in Gaza.
On Tuesday, the United States expressed “cautious optimism” about the prospects for reaching a ceasefire in Gaza.
The war was sparked by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, resulting in the deaths of 1,208 people on the Israeli side, the majority of whom were civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Hamas militants also took 251 people hostage, 96 of whom remained in Gaza, 34 of whom have been killed according to the Israeli military.
Israeli counterattacks in Gaza have killed at least 45,129 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable.
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