Israel has recently expanded its military operations in the Gaza Strip, where the war since October 2023 has created dire humanitarian conditions and displaced nearly all of the territory’s population of more than 2 million.
Many have sought shelter in school buildings, but these have repeatedly come under Israeli attacks that the military often says target Hamas rebels hiding among civilians.
In Gaza City today, civil defence official Mohammad al-Mughayyir told AFP there were “12 martyrs, the majority of them children and women, and a large number of injuries in an Israeli air strike on the Mustafa Hafez School, which shelters displaced persons, in the Al-Rimal neighbourhood”.
AFP footage showed young children wandering through the charred, bombed out building, as piles of burnt debris smouldered.
Groups of Palestinians picked through the rubble and damaged furniture that littered the floor.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it was looking into the report as well as another incident, in central Gaza, where according to Mughayyir Israeli gunfire killed people seeking humanitarian aid.
The civil defence official said the gunfire killed six people and resulted in “a large number of injuries” among a group of Palestinians near an aid distribution site.
It is the latest in a string of deadly incidents that have hit people trying to receive scarce supplies.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday vowed to eradicate Hamas, whose 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war, even after the Palestinian resistance group said it was studying new proposals for a ceasefire from mediators.
US President Donald Trump has said the latest ceasefire push, aiming for an initial 60-day truce, had Israel’s backing.
Across Gaza today, Mughayyir said artillery shelling in the northern town of Beit Lahia killed three people.
A strike on Jabalia, also in the north, killed one.
Further south, three people were killed in a strike that hit tents housing displaced people in the coastal Al-Mawasi area, Mughayyir said.
Despite being declared a safe zone by Israel in December 2023, Al-Mawasi has been hit by repeated strikes.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers.
The Israeli military did not comment on the reported incidents in Bait Lahia, Jabalia and Al-Mawasi, but told AFP in response that it was “operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities” and that it “follows international law and takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm”.
Hamas’s Oct 7, 2023 attack that prompted the Israeli offensive resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 57,012 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
The United Nations considers its figures reliable.