Israel hit a school in Gaza yesterday in what it claims was a targeted airstrike on about thirty Hamas fighters inside. A Hamas official said 40 people, including women and children, were killed while hiding at the United Nations site.
Video footage showed Palestinians dragging bodies and scores of injured people to a local hospital after the attack, which came at a sensitive moment in ceasefire talks that would include the release of hostages held by Hamas and some Palestinians from Israeli prisons.
At the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, a Palestinian boy, Imad al-Makadmeh, lay on the floor, his face swollen and blue and bleeding. He said he lost his father in the attack. "What were we doing? There are no armed men in the school. There are children there, they are playing. We are playing together... Why did they bomb us?" he said in a video obtained by Reuters.
In a video that showed the victims lying in hospital and surrounded by grieving relatives, the bodies were mostly wrapped in blankets, so it was not possible to determine whether they were civilians, Reuters reported.
Yesterday, the United States issued a joint statement with other countries urging Israel and Hamas to make the necessary compromises to conclude an agreement after eight months of war in the Gaza Strip.
Ismail al-Tavabta, director of the Hamas-led government's media office, rejected Israel's claim that the UN school in Nuseirat in central Gaza was a hidden Hamas command base.
"The occupier is using false stories to justify the brutal crime he committed against dozens of displaced people," Tavabta told Reuters.
The Israeli military said its planes carried out a "precision strike" and showed satellite photos showing two parts of the building where it claimed fighters were stationed.
"We are very confident in the intelligence," said military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, accusing Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters of deliberately using UN facilities as bases of operations.
He said that 20-30 fighters were located in the base and that many of them were killed, but he did not have precise details because intelligence assessments are being made. "I don't know of any civilian casualties and I would be very, very careful about accepting anything that Hamas publishes," he said.
As people at the school removed the rubble from blood-stained classrooms, Huda Abu Daher described how she was awakened by the sound of rockets.
"Human remains were scattered in the yard and outside. The gas canister exploded," she told Reuters.
"My nephew was killed, he lost a leg and an arm, he was 10 years old... This woman got a leg injury, her son was bleeding from the mouth and leg, her mother-in-law got three injuries".
The school, run by the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), housed six thousand displaced people at the time, UNRWA chief Filipe Lazarini said.
"At least 35 people were killed and many more injured," wrote X online. "Claims that armed groups may have been in the shelter are shocking. However, we are unable to verify these claims. Attacking, targeting or using UN buildings for military purposes is a blatant disregard for international humanitarian law."
Tavabta and a medical source said 40 people were killed, including 14 children and nine women.
Israel announced a new military campaign in central Gaza on Wednesday in an offensive against fighters who use hit-and-run guerrilla tactics. He said the fighting would not stop during the ceasefire talks, which have intensified since US President Joe Biden put forward the proposal on Friday.
"At this crucial moment, we call on the leaders of Israel, as well as Hamas, to make any final compromises necessary to conclude this agreement," the White House said in a statement issued along with Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Britain, Canada and others.
Hamas seeks a permanent end to the war. Israel says it must first destroy the Islamist militant group.
At this crucial moment, we call on the leaders of Israel, as well as Hamas, to make any final compromises necessary to conclude this agreement," the White House said in a statement issued along with Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Britain, Canada and others.
The Israeli military reported a rare attack near the Israel-Gaza border, saying a squad of Palestinian fighters killed one soldier and three others were killed in return fire, Reuters reported.
A statement from Hamas' armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, said its fighters carried out an operation behind enemy lines in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, a location matching the Israeli military's report.
Reuters estimates that this incident is likely to call into question efforts to restore a sense of security in Israeli border communities that were attacked by gunmen led by Hamas on October 7 last year.
CIA Director William Burns met in Doha on Wednesday with senior officials from Qatari and Egyptian mediators to discuss a plan for a ceasefire. Two Egyptian security sources said talks resumed yesterday but there was no sign of progress.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing intense domestic political pressure to come up with a plan to end and negotiate the release of hostages held by Hamas.
The centrist party in his coalition government has threatened to quit by Saturday unless the prime minister commits to a post-war plan for Gaza. Far-right members have vowed to resign if he agrees to a peace deal that would keep Hamas in power.
Hamas sparked the war with an attack on Israeli territory on October 7 last year, killing around 1.200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli estimates. About half of the hostages were released in the November ceasefire.
Israel's military assault on Gaza has killed more than 36.000 people, according to health officials in the territory, who say thousands more are feared buried under the rubble.
US and Israeli officials told Reuters that half of Hamas' forces had been killed in the conflict. Hamas does not disclose deaths among its fighters, and some officials say Israel has exaggerated the numbers.
The number of casualties in the Israeli army is almost 300.
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