An Israeli strike on a U.N. school in Gaza sheltering displaced Palestinians killed more than 30 people, local health officials say, though the U.N. hasn’t confirmed any numbers. Israel says Hamas was operating from inside the school.
An Israeli strike early Thursday on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in central Gaza killed more than 30 people, including 23 women and children, according to local health officials. The hospital treating victims said it had received the bodies of at least «37 martyrs» from the strike, according to Agence France-Presse. But a U.N. official tells the Reuters news agency the U.N. can’t confirm any death toll yet.
The Israeli military said Hamas militants were operating from within the school.
The strike came as U.S., Qatari and Egyptian mediators resumed talks seeking a cease-fire and hostage release deal.
It also came after the military announced a new ground and air assault in several refugee camps in central Gaza, pursuing Hamas militants it says have regrouped there.
It’s the latest instance of troops sweeping back into sections of the Gaza Strip they’d previously invaded, underscoring the resilience of the militant group despite Israel’s nearly eight-month onslaught in the territory.
Witnesses and hospital officials said the predawn strike hit the al-Sardi School, run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees known by the acronym UNRWA. The school was filled with Palestinians who had fled Israeli offensives and bombardment in northern Gaza, they said.
Ayman Rashed, a man displaced from Gaza City who was sheltering at the school, said the missiles hit classrooms on the second and third floor where families were sheltering. He said he helped carry out five dead, including an old man and two children, one with his head shattered open. «It was dark, with no electricity, and we struggled to get out the victims,» Rashed said.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah received at least 33 dead from the strike, including 14 children and nine women, according to hospital records and an Associated Press reporter at the hospital. Another strike on a house overnight killed six people, according to the records.
