DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli strike on a school in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday killed at least 22 people, the Gaza Strip’s Health Ministry said, while the Israeli military said it targeted a Hamas command center in what used to be a school.
Another 30 people were wounded in the attack on the school in the Zeitoun area of Gaza City, the ministry said in a statement. Most of the victims were women and children.
It is not yet known to which hospital the dead and injured were taken.
In a video recorded by the AP, dozens of people, including children, are seen digging through the rubble of the building, whose roof had collapsed, its walls had fallen and where a pile of cables and metal rods could be seen.
Outside, other people gathered around shrouded bodies.
Some covered their faces, crying for their relatives who lost their lives in the attack.
“A missile, a missile from the plane hit us, and 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 injured… What should we do? What is our fault that this happened to us?”
Israeli military forces said earlier yesterday that they had struck a Hamas “command and control center” that was “embedded inside a compound that previously served” as a school. They said they took measures to limit damage to civilians, including the use of precise munitions and aerial surveillance.
Also yesterday, the Gaza Health Ministry reported that five of its workers were killed and five others wounded by Israeli fire that hit the ministry’s warehouses in the Musbah area in the south of the enclave.
Opposing narratives
Since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out, the Israeli army has already attacked several schools, filled with tens of thousands of Palestinians who have fled their homes due to Israeli offensives and eviction orders.
The conflict has displaced 90 percent of Palestinians from Gaza, according to United Nations figures.
The Israeli military accuses Hamas of operating from civilian infrastructure in the Strip, such as schools and UN facilities and hospitals.
Competing narratives over the use of schools and hospitals are at the heart of the conflict, which has lasted for 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 the attack was aimed at Hamas fighters who were planning attacks from inside the school.
Last July, Israeli airstrikes hit a girls’ school in Deir al-Balah, killing at least 30 people sheltering inside.
Israeli military forces said they struck a Hamas command center used to carry out attacks against its troops and store “large quantities of weapons.”
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2024-09-23 19:46:08
