Israeli attack on school kills at least 22, Gaza Health Ministry says

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) – An Israeli strike on a school in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday killed at least 22 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, while the Israeli army said it targeted the command center. of Hamas in what used to be. being a school.

Another 30 were injured in the school strike in the Zeitoun area of ​​Gaza City, the ministry said in a statement. It said that most of the victims are women and children. It was not immediately clear which hospital the dead and injured were taken to.

Video taken by The Associated Press showed dozens of people, including children, digging through the ruins of the building – its ceiling collapsed, walls collapsed and a mess of wires and metal rods visible. Outside, others gathered around the bodies. Some covered their faces as they mourned their relatives who were killed in the strike.

Ferial Deloul, who fled their homes, said: “We were hit by a missile, a missile from an airplane, then we hit another missile. “We saw the whole world full of smoke and stones and we saw people and children being cut. … What should we do? What is our fault that this happened to us?

The Israeli army said earlier on Saturday that it had struck a “Hamas command and control center, which had been infiltrated into a computer that previously functioned” as a school. It said measures had been taken to reduce civilian casualties, including using precision bombs and aerial surveillance.

Also on Saturday, the Gaza Ministry of Health said that five of its workers were killed and five others were injured by Israeli fire that hit a service warehouse in the southern Musbah area.

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the Israeli army has attacked several schools, filled with tens of thousands of Palestinians who have been driven from their homes by Israeli occupation and evacuation orders. The conflict has left 90% of Gaza’s Palestinians displaced, according to United Nations figures.

The military has been accusing Hamas of operating from inside public buildings in Gaza, including schools, UN facilities and hospitals. The disputed claims over the use of schools and hospitals get to the heart of the nearly year-long battle.

Earlier this month, an Israeli strike hit a school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing 14, according to Palestinian medical officials. The Israeli army said it was targeting Hamas militants planning attacks from inside the school.

In July, Israeli airstrikes hit a girls’ school in Deir al-Balah, killing at least 30 people hiding inside. The Israeli army said it was targeting a Hamas command center used to attack its forces and store “large amounts of weapons”.

The war began when Hamas-led militants killed nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in an Oct. 7 in southern Israel. They kidnapped another 250 people and are still holding about 100 people. Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed at least 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which does not distinguish between militants and civilians.

Tensions escalated in the region on Friday after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon, killed dozens of people, including civilians and Ibrahim Akil, who commanded Hezbollah’s Radwan Force. One of those killed was Ahmed Wahbi, another senior commander in the group’s military branch.

The strike came hours after Hezbollah launched one of its most powerful bombardments in northern Israel in nearly a year of war. Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted most of the rockets.

Israeli army spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Israel fired more than 400 rockets into Lebanon on Saturday.

Tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated on Saturday night in Tel Aviv and in several smaller protests across the country, demanding a ceasefire and the return of nearly 100 hostages being held in Gaza. . The protests, which take place every Saturday night, drew a similar crowd compared to previous weeks despite the tight security situation on Israel’s northern border.