GAZA: Gaza’s civil defense agency reported that an Israeli airstrike on Saturday targeted a school converted into a shelter in Gaza City, resulting in the deaths of 22 people, including 13 children and six women, one of whom was pregnant.
Approximately 30 others were injured, with nine children requiring limb amputations, according to spokesman Mahmud Bassal. The school, Al-Zaytoun School C, was sheltering thousands of displaced individuals.
Israel’s military stated that the strike was aimed at Hamas militants operating within a command center located inside the nearby Al Falah School. They claimed to have taken precautions to minimize civilian casualties, including using precise munitions and conducting aerial surveillance.
Witnesses reported that orphans were present at the school for humanitarian assistance just before the strike. This incident is part of a series of Israeli attacks on school buildings housing displaced people. A previous strike on the UN-run Al-Jawni School in central Gaza on September 11 resulted in international condemnation after it killed six UN staff members among 18 reported fatalities.
The Israeli military has accused Hamas of using schools to shield its operations, a claim that the militant group denies. The Israeli’s war on Gaza begun on October 7 last year has displaced almost the entire 2.4 million Gaza population. According to the health ministry, at least 41,391 Palestinians, mostly children and women, have been killed since the start of the war.
