An Israeli strike on a school in northern Gaza on Saturday killed at least 22 people, according to the Gaza health ministry, while the Israeli military said it targeted a Hamas command center in what was once a school.
Thirty other people were injured in the attack on the school in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza, the ministry said in a statement. Most of the victims were women and children. It was not clear to which hospital the dead and wounded were taken.
Dozens of people, including children, searched through the rubble of the building, which had collapsed ceilings, torn walls and a tangle of wires and metal rods. Outside, others gathered around bodies wrapped in sheets. Some covered their faces as they mourned loved ones killed in the strike.
“A missile, a missile from the plane hit us, then another missile,” said Ferial Deloul, a displaced person. “We saw the whole world covered in smoke and stones and we saw people and children being torn to pieces. (…) What should we do? What is our fault if this is happening to us?”
The Israeli military said Saturday it had struck Hamas’ command and control center, which was located in a compound that previously served as a school. It said measures had been taken to limit harm to civilians, including the use of precision munitions and aerial surveillance.
5 Gaza Health Ministry Employees Killed
Also on Saturday, Gaza’s health ministry said five of its employees were killed and five others wounded by Israeli fire that hit the ministry’s warehouses in the southern Musbah area.
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, the Israeli army has struck several schools housing tens of thousands of Palestinians driven from their homes by Israeli offensives and evacuation orders. The conflict has displaced 90% of Gaza’s Palestinians, according to UN figures.
The army has accused Hamas of operating from civilian infrastructure in Gaza, including schools, UN facilities and hospitals.
Hamas has been designated a terrorist group by the US, UK, EU and others.
Israel targets Hamas, strikes school
Conflicting accounts over the use of schools and hospitals are at the heart of a conflict that has lasted nearly a year.
Earlier this month, an Israeli strike hit a school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing 14 people, according to Palestinian medical officials. The Israeli military said it targeted Hamas militants who were planning attacks from inside the school.
In July, Israeli airstrikes hit a girls’ school in Deir al-Balah, killing at least 30 people who had sought refuge there. The Israeli military said it targeted a Hamas command center used to direct attacks on its troops and store “large quantities of weapons.”
The war began when Hamas-led fighters killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in a terror attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. They kidnapped another 250 people and continue to hold about 100 hostages. Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed at least 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians. Israel has not recently estimated the death toll, but says most of the dead are fighters.
