GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes on the Palestinian territory killed 17 people on Saturday, including seven at a UN school housing displaced people.
Israel is attacking homes and schools across the Gaza Strip, killing and injuring several people just one day after dozens were massacred in a strike on Nuseirat camp.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP there were seven killed, including women and children, and at least 10 wounded “when Israeli warplanes targeted the Al-Majida Wasila school west of Gaza City”.
The school was run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees but like many such facilities, it has been turned into a makeshift shelter for those displaced by the war in Gaza.
The attacks took place just one day after Israel killed at least 36 people, most from the al-Sheikh Ali family in the Nuseirat refugee camp, leading to widespread condemnation.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.
The vast majority of Gaza’s population has been displaced by the ongoing Israeli military operations, often multiple times.
Bassal said an Israeli strike on the town hall in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza killed mayor Deiab al-Jaro, and nine other people.
The Israeli military said it targeted Jaro in a strike on “the humanitarian area in Deir el-Balah”, accusing him of being “an operative in Hamas’s military wing”.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has launched a relentless bombardment campaign in Gaza killing at least 44,930 people, mostly women and children, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
In northern Gaza, which has been under an even tighter siege over the past two months, Israeli forces blew up buildings and burned dozens of homes in and around Beit Lahiya while firing at Kamal Adwan Hospital, according to Wafa.
Israel has imposed a total siege on several neighbourhoods in northern Gaza, prompting accusations that it is pushing to permanently displace Palestinians and ethnically cleanse the area.
Muhannad Hadi, United Nations humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, decried in a statement on Friday the “rapidly deteriorating security and humanitarian situation” in Gaza.
“In recent days, multiple strikes across the Gaza Strip have resulted in scores of reported fatalities and numerous injuries,” he said.
“Women and children continue to be among the casualties. Such incidents are further reminders of the unbearable human cost of the conflict.”
