At least 13 people were killed and more than 70 injured in an Israeli air strike on a United Nations-run school in a refugee camp in central Gaza, Gaza authorities said.
Sunday’s attack targeted the Abu Arban School in the Nuseirat refugee camp, where hundreds of displaced people had sought refuge.
More than 70 injured people were taken from the attacked school to Al Awda Hospital.
The Israel Defense Forces said they had “targeted a number of terrorists” operating in the school, with the support of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
“The building was used by terrorists as a hideout and as an active operations center from which they planned and carried out terrorist activities against our armed forces,” the military added.
Videos broadcast on Palestinian channels showed hundreds of people running through the schoolyard, some carrying injured people, while dozens of civilians dug through the rubble to rescue those trapped, including children.
The Israeli military said that “steps were taken to minimize civilian casualties” before the attack.
A UNRWA spokesman said in a statement that they had no information about a militant presence in the school.
Since the conflict began on October 7, at least 550 people have died in UN-run schools and centers.
In addition, according to UN reports, 197 UN staff members have been killed and 188 UN facilities have been damaged in Israeli attacks in the past nine months.
The attack followed a day of particularly intense violence in which at least 141 people were killed and around 400 injured on Saturday, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.
Two major attacks on the Mawasi humanitarian zone in the south and the Shati refugee camp in the north of the Gaza Strip late Saturday caused the most casualties.
According to Gaza sources, at least 90 people were killed and more than 300 injured in the attack in Mawasi, which Israel said was directed against high-ranking Hamas military commanders.
The Israeli military said the airstrike targeted senior Hamas commanders, including the head of the group’s military wing, Mohammad Deif, and the commander of the Khan Yunis Brigade, Rafa Salama.
The Israeli military later confirmed that Salama, one of Deif’s closest confidants, was killed in the airstrike, but did not provide details about Deif’s fate.
The Israeli military described the attack as precise and targeted not the tent complex in the humanitarian area but a Hamas complex in an open area surrounded by trees and buildings.
At least 20 people were killed in the Shati refugee camp, according to Palestinian media, after the IDF allegedly attacked a mosque where dozens had gathered for prayer.
A senior Hamas official said on Sunday that the Islamist group had not withdrawn from ceasefire talks with Israel following deadly attacks in the Gaza Strip this weekend.
Izzat El-Reshiq, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, accused Israel of thwarting efforts by Arab mediators and the United States to achieve a ceasefire by increasing attacks on the enclave.
Since the conflict began, at least 38,597 people have died and 88,950 have been injured in the Gaza Strip, according to Gaza authorities. An estimated 10,000 people are still missing and presumed dead under the rubble of destroyed buildings.
with Reuters