Israeli air strike hits school in Gaza, killing at least 30, officials say
- Israel military says it targeted a Hamas command centre inside the school used to launch attacks against troops and as a weapons cache
At least 30 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on a school that had been housing displaced people in Gaza on Saturday, Palestinian health officials said, while Israel’s military said it had struck a Hamas command centre in the school complex.
Fifteen children and eight women were among those killed in the strike on the school in the central town of Deir al-Balah, the Hamas-run government media office said. The media office and the Gaza health ministry said more than 100 people were wounded.
The Israeli military said in a statement it had targeted a “Hamas command and control centre inside the Khadija school compound in central Gaza”.
The statement said the school was being used to launch attacks against troops and as a weapons cache, and that it warned civilians before the strike.
At Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, ambulances raced wounded Palestinians into the medical facility. Some of the wounded also arrived on foot, their clothes stained with blood.