An Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in central Gaza early Thursday resulted in the deaths of more than 30 people, including 23 women and children, according to local health officials. The Israeli military claimed the school was being used by Hamas militants.
This incident is the latest in a series of high-casualty events affecting Palestinians seeking refuge from the expanding Israeli military operations in Gaza. A day prior, the military had launched a new ground and air assault in central Gaza, targeting Hamas militants they say had regrouped there.
Israeli forces have repeatedly re-entered areas of Gaza they had previously invaded, highlighting the resilience of Hamas despite Israel’s ongoing eight-month campaign.
Witnesses and hospital officials reported that the al-Sardi School, operated by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), was struck before dawn. The school was filled with Palestinians fleeing northern Gaza due to Israeli offensives.
Ayman Rashed, a man displaced from Gaza City and sheltering at the school, described the missiles hitting classrooms where families were taking refuge. He helped carry out five dead bodies, including those of an old man and two children. Rashed mentioned the struggle to rescue victims in the dark due to a lack of electricity.
Casualties from the strike were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in nearby Deir al-Balah, already overwhelmed with a constant flow of injured from the ongoing central Gaza incursion, according to photographer Omar al-Derawi.
Videos circulating online depicted wounded individuals being treated on the hospital floor, a frequent sight in Gaza’s overcrowded medical facilities. Much of the hospital was without electricity as staff conserved fuel for generators.
“There’s hardly any space in the hospital due to the influx of people. Families of victims are crowding the hallways, crying,” said al-Derawi.
Hospital records and an Associated Press reporter documented at least 33 deaths from the strike, including 14 children and nine women. Another strike on a house overnight killed six more people.
Both incidents occurred in Nuseirat, one of the refugee camps established in Gaza after the 1948 war, which resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
Footage showed bodies wrapped in blankets or plastic bags lined up in the hospital courtyard. Mohammed al-Kareem, a displaced Palestinian near the hospital, described people searching for their loved ones among the bodies, with one woman repeatedly asking medical staff to unwrap bodies to find her son.
“The situation is dire,” he said.
The Israeli military claimed that Hamas had established a “compound” within the school and that militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad were using it as a base for planning attacks against Israeli forces, though no immediate evidence was provided. The military released a photo indicating classrooms on the second and third floors where they claimed militants were located.
They stated they had taken measures to minimize civilian casualties, including aerial surveillance and additional intelligence gathering.
UNRWA schools across Gaza have been serving as shelters since the conflict began, displacing much of the territory’s population of 2.3 million Palestinians.
Last week, Israeli strikes near an UNRWA facility in Rafah targeting Hamas militants led to a fire that spread to nearby tents housing displaced families, killing at least 45 people. This incident drew international condemnation, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attributing it to a “tragic mishap.” The military suggested secondary explosions might have caused the fire, but the exact cause remains undetermined.
Israeli troops entered Rafah in early May for what they described as a limited operation but are now active in central parts of the city. Over 1 million people have fled Rafah since the operation began, relocating to southern and central Gaza in new tent camps or crowding into schools and homes.
Israel’s Gaza campaign followed Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in around 1,200 deaths and 250 hostages taken by militants. Gaza’s Health Ministry reports at least 36,000 Palestinian deaths since the start of the offensive, a figure that does not distinguish between fighters and civilians.
Israel attributes civilian casualties to Hamas using residential areas for fighters, tunnels, and rocket launchers.
The US has supported a phased cease-fire and hostage release proposed by President Joe Biden. However, Israel insists it will not cease its campaign until Hamas is destroyed, while Hamas demands a permanent cease-fire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Far-right members of Netanyahu’s government have threatened to collapse the coalition if a cease-fire deal is agreed upon.
On Wednesday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a prominent hard-liner, addressed the annual march in Jerusalem’s Old City, asserting, “We are sending a message to Hamas that Jerusalem, including Damascus Gate, belongs to us. Total victory is in our grasp with God’s help.”
The march commemorates “Jerusalem Day,” celebrating Israel’s 1967 capture of East Jerusalem, including the Old City and its holy sites significant to Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
Israel has regularly conducted airstrikes across Gaza since the conflict began, along with extensive ground operations in Gaza City and Khan Younis, resulting in significant destruction.
The military conducted an extended offensive in Bureij and nearby refugee camps in central Gaza earlier this year. Troops withdrew from the Jabaliya camp in northern Gaza last Friday after weeks of fighting that left widespread devastation. First responders have recovered the bodies of 360 people, mainly women and children, killed during the battles.
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