Israeli airstrike on a Gaza faculty kills not less than 80 individuals, Palestinian well being officers say

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli airstrike hit a school-turned-shelter in Gaza Metropolis early Saturday, killing not less than 80 individuals, Palestinian well being authorities stated, in one of many deadliest strikes within the 10-month-old struggle between Israel and Hamas.

The Israeli army acknowledged the strike, claiming it hit a Hamas command middle throughout the faculty. Hamas denied that.

The strike on the Tabeen faculty in central Gaza Metropolis additionally wounded 47 individuals, the Well being Ministry stated. The ability, like virtually all of Gaza’s faculties, has been used as a shelter for individuals who have been pressured to flee their houses by the struggle.

Video from the scene confirmed partitions blown out on the bottom stage of a big constructing. Concrete chunks and twisted metallic lay atop the blood-soaked ground, together with clothes, toppled furnishings and different particles. A blackened automobile with the home windows blown out was lined in rubble.

Fadel Naeem, director of the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza Metropolis, instructed The Related Press that the ability acquired 70 our bodies of these killed within the strike and the physique components of not less than 10 others.

The strike hit with out warning within the early morning earlier than dawn as individuals have been praying at a mosque inside the varsity, in keeping with Abu Anas, a witness who labored to rescue individuals.

“There have been individuals praying, there have been individuals washing and there have been individuals upstairs sleeping, together with youngsters, ladies and previous individuals,” he stated. “The missile fell on them with out warning. The primary missile, and the second. We recovered them as physique components.”

Three missiles ripped by means of the varsity and the mosque inside, the place about 6,000 displaced individuals have been taking shelter from the struggle, stated Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesperson for the Civil Protection first responders who function underneath the Hamas-run native authorities.

Lots of the useless have been unrecognizable, he stated, including that he anticipated the loss of life toll to rise. Lots of the casualties have been ladies and kids, he stated.

In keeping with the United Nations, 477 out of 564 faculties in Gaza had been immediately hit or broken within the struggle as of July 6. In June, an Israeli strike on a college sheltering displaced Palestinians in central Gaza killed not less than 33 individuals, together with 12 ladies and kids, in keeping with native well being officers.

On Thursday Israel’s army hit two faculties sheltering displaced individuals in japanese Gaza Metropolis, killing not less than 15 individuals, in keeping with hospital officers.

Israel has blamed civilian deaths in Gaza on Hamas, saying the group endangers noncombatants by utilizing faculties and residential neighborhoods as bases for operations and assaults.

Israeli intelligence indicated about 20 militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, together with senior commanders, have been utilizing the Tabeen faculty compound to plan assaults on Israeli forces, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli army spokesman stated in a press release on the social media platform X.

Izzat al-Rishq, a high Hamas official denied there have been militants within the faculty.

Shoshani additionally questioned the casualty numbers issued by the Palestinian Well being Ministry.

Israel stated the focused faculty was positioned subsequent to a mosque serving as a shelter for Gaza Metropolis residents.

A cameraman working for The Related Press stated, nonetheless, that the mosque and the school rooms have been in a single constructing, with the prayer corridor on the bottom ground and the varsity above it. A missile appeared to have penetrated by means of the ground of the school rooms to the mosque under after which exploded, in keeping with the cameraman.

The strike got here as American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators renewed their push for the 2 events to attain a cease-fire settlement that would assist calm hovering tensions within the area following the assassination of high Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut.

Egypt, which borders Gaza and serves as a key mediator, stated the strike on the varsity confirmed Israel had no intention of reaching a cease-fire deal and ending the struggle. Neighboring Jordan additionally condemned the assault, calling it a “blatant violation” of worldwide legislation.

Late Friday, two separate airstrikes in central Gaza killed not less than 13 individuals together with three youngsters and 7 ladies, hospital authorities stated. An Related Press journalist counted the our bodies on the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital within the central metropolis of Deir al-Balah.

One strike hit a home within the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing seven individuals, all however considered one of them ladies, hospital officers stated. One other hit a home in Deir al-Balah, killing six, together with a lady and her three youngsters, the hospital stated.

Israel’s marketing campaign in Gaza has killed greater than 39,600 Palestinians and wounded greater than 91,700 others, in keeping with the enclave’s Well being Ministry. The struggle was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault, during which militants from Gaza stormed into southern Israel, killing round 1,200 individuals and abducting 250 others.

Greater than 1.9 million of Gaza’s prewar inhabitants of two.3 million have been pushed from their houses, fleeing repeatedly throughout the territory to flee offensives. Most at the moment are crowded into ramshackle tent camps in an space of about 50 sq. kilometers (19 sq. miles) on the Gaza coast.

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Magdy reported from Cairo.