Gaza: An Israeli airstrike on a UN school housing displaced Palestinians in central Gaza has reportedly killed at least 35 people.
The Israeli military claimed to have killed several of the 20 to 30 fighters it thought to be inside the school when it “conducted a precise strike on a Hamas compound” there.
The Government Media Office in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, refuted the assertion and charged Israel with carrying out a “horrific massacre.”
Israel has been urged by the US to provide the public with information on the strike in a “fully transparent” manner.
The head of the school’s operator, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), called the event “horrific” and said it was “shocking” but unconfirmable that armed groups may have been inside a bunker.
The nearby town of Deir al-Balah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital, overrun since the Israeli military launched a fresh ground offensive against Hamas in central Gaza this week, received a flood of dead and injured persons.
At the time, 6,000 displaced persons, according to Unrwa, were taking refuge at the school complex. The 1.7 million people who have fled their homes throughout the nearly eight-month-long war have taken refuge at numerous schools and other UN facilities.
40 people were slain in Gaza, including 14 children and 9 women, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, while 74 more were injured. Ismail al-Thawabta, the director of the Government Media Office, which is controlled by Hamas, announced the same death toll.
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