Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli shelling late Sunday had killed at least 15 childs among 22 people at a school serving as a shelter for displaced Palestinians in central Gaza’s Nuseirat camp.
The vast majority of the besieged Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once bythe war, sparked by Hamas’s 7-October attack on Israel, with many seeking shelter in school buildings.
“The Al-Mufti school was bombarded with a large volley of Israeli artillery, resulting in an initial death toll of 22 martyrs, including children, women and entire families, and 50 wounded,” said Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the agency.
“This school shelters hundreds of displaced people from different families, including some from Gaza, the south, and various parts of the Gaza Strip,” he added.
The Israeli military said it was “looking into the reports”. The attack comes just days after an Israeli air strike on a school killed at least 28 people in Gaza’s Deir el-Balah.
Israel’s military regularly accuses Hamas of hiding in school buildings where thousands of Gazans have sought shelter — a charge denied by the Palestinian militant group.
Civilians have borne much of the brunt of the Israeli onslaught, which according to Gaza’s health ministry has killed at least 42,227 people over the past year, a majority of them civilians. The United Nations acknowledges the figures to be reliable.
Hamas triggered the ongoing conflict in Gaza with the deadliest-ever attack on Israel on 7 October, 2023. It resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
The Israeli military said fighter jets struck targets in Beirut belonging to Hezbollah’s Intelligence Headquarters and weapons storage facilities. It said strikes also targeted Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and the Beqaa area.
Hamas-led militants launched rockets into Israel from Gaza at the start of the 7-October attacks last year.
The Hamas attacks that day killed 1,200 people and more than 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures. They provoked an Israeli offensive in Gaza that has laid waste the densely populated coastal enclave and killed almost 42,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.
On the eve of the anniversary, pro-Palestinian demonstrators protested against Israel around the world from Jakarta to Istanbul and Rabat after rallies in major European capitals, Washington and New York on Saturday.
Iran launched a missile attack on Israel last week in response to its operations in Lebanon and Gaza, where Hezbollah and Hamas militants are Tehran’s allies in a so-called Axis of Resistance.
Israel, which says its objective is the safe return of tens of thousands of citizens to homes in northern Israel, vowed retaliation amid fears that tensions will escalate into an all-out regional conflict.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Sunday Israel would decide independently how to respond to Iran even though it was closely coordinating with longtime ally the US.
“Everything is on the table,” Gallant, who is due to meet US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday, said in an interview with CNN. “Israel has capabilities to hit targets near and far — we have proved it.”
While the US has said it would not support strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, president Joe Biden said last week that Israeli attacks on Iran’s oil facilities were being discussed.
Israel snubbed a US-backed push for a ceasefire in launching ground operations in Lebanon.
On Sunday, the US government reacted to Israel’s heavy bombardment there by saying that military pressure can enable diplomacy but can also lead to miscalculations.
French President Emmanuel Macron said over the weekend that shipments of arms to Israel should be stopped. Israel said such a step will serve the purposes of Iran.
The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for residents of southern Beirut late on Sunday in advance of further strikes.
On Sunday night, Israel declared three more areas on its northern border as closed military zones in addition to more than five closed last week as military staging areas.
An Israeli strike on a building in the mountain town of Kayfoun in central Lebanon killed six people and wounded 13, Lebanon’s health ministry said. A strike in the nearby town Qmatiye killed six more, including three children, and wounded 11, it said.
In the Gaza Strip, at least 26 people were killed and 93 others wounded when Israeli airstrikes hit a mosque and a school sheltering displaced people on Sunday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza government media office. The Israeli military said it had conducted “precise strikes on Hamas terrorists”.
