No fewer than 28 people have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a school sheltering displaced families in the central Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Red Crescen says.
More than 50 people were injured in the attack on Rufaida al-Aslamia school, which the medical group said was near its headquarters in Deir al-Balah.
A video from the site showed people hurrying to rescue the injured under a cloud of smoke and dust, while numerous youngsters were seen receiving treatment at the local al-Aqsa Hospital.
The Israeli military stated that the “precise” strike targeted Hamas fighters operating inside a “command-and-control centre” at the school.
It also stated that it had taken precautions to protect people and accused Hamas of systematically abusing civilian infrastructure, which the group has previously denied.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry put the dead toll at 28 and condemned the Israeli military’s “new massacre.”
Many schools have been converted into shelters for the 1.9 million Palestinians who have abandoned their homes since the conflict in Gaza began a year ago.
The Israeli military initiated a campaign to eradicate Hamas in reaction to the group’s enormous onslaught on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 more.
More than 42,060 Palestinians have died in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry.
