An Israeli air strike Wednesday hit a central Gaza school, with the Hamas-run territory’s civil defence agency reporting 10 killed in the facility turned displacement shelter and the military saying it had targeted militants.
The vast majority of the Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once by the war, triggered by Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, with many seeking safety in school buildings.
Israeli forces have struck several such schools in recent months, saying Palestinian militants were operating there and hiding among displaced civilians, charges denied by Hamas.
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The Al Jawni school in central Gaza’s Nuseirat, already hit several times during the war, was struck again on Wednesday, civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
“There are 10 martyrs, including women and children, in the Israeli bombing of Al-Jawni school”, he said, also reporting “a number” of wounded. AFP was unable to independently verify the toll.
The Israeli military said its air force had “conducted a precise strike on terrorists who were operating inside a Hamas command-and-control centre” on the school grounds, without elaborating on its outcome or the identities of those targeted.
The Hamas government media office said about 5,000 displaced people were sheltering at the school, which used to be run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, when it was hit on Wednesday.
Al Jawni has been hit at least five times in more than 11 months of war, Bassal said.
In July, at least 16 people were killed in an Israeli air strike the military said had targeted “terrorists”.
Israel’s military offensive since the October 7 attack has killed at least 41,084 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry. The UN rights office says most of the dead are women and children.
The Hamas attack on southern Israel that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which also includes hostages killed in captivity.