Israeli strikes kill dozens at UN school and homes in Gaza
Six UN staff were among the dead at al-Jaouni Preparatory Boys School, where displaced Palestinian families are sheltering
Israeli air strikes across Gaza overnight and Wednesday hit a UN school sheltering displaced Palestinian families as well as two homes, killing at least 34 people, including 19 women and children, hospital officials said. A UN official said six staff were among the dead.
The war in Gaza is now into its 11th month, with tens of thousands of people dead, and international efforts to mediate a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas militant group have repeatedly stalled as they accuse each other of making additional and unacceptable demands.
In the occupied West Bank, Israeli troops launched raids in several towns backed by air strikes, continuing a crackdown across the territory that the military says is targeting militants but has wrecked neighbourhoods and killed civilians.
One air strike killed five people the military said were militants threatening its troops. A second strike on a car killed at least three people, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
An attacker crashed a fuel truck into a West Bank bus stop near the Israeli settlement of GIvat Assaf, killing an Israeli soldier, the military said. Officials said soldiers and an armed civilian “neutralised” the attacker.
The strike on the UN’s al-Jaouni Preparatory Boys School in the Nuseirat refugee camp killed at least 14, including two children and a woman, officials from Awda and al-Aqsa Martyrs hospitals said. At least 18 other people were wounded, they said.