(DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip) – An Israeli strike on a school in northern Gaza on Saturday killed at least 22 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and the Israeli army said it targeted a Hamas command center in what used to be a school.
Another 30 were injured in the strike at a school in the Zeitoun area of Gaza City, the ministry said in a statement. It says most of the dead are women and children. At the moment it was not clear to which hospital the dead and injured were taken.
Video taken by the Associated Press showed dozens of people, including children, digging through the rubble of the building – its ceiling caved in, walls collapsed and a tangle of wires and metal was visible. Outside, others gathered around the bodies. Some covered their faces and mourned the relatives who were killed in the strike.
“We were hit by a missile, an airplane missile, and another missile,” said Ferial Deloul, who was left homeless. “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?”
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Israel’s military said early Saturday it struck a Hamas “command and control center, which was embedded inside a computer that previously served as a school.” It said measures had been taken to limit harm to civilians, including the use of precision weapons and aerial surveillance.
Also on Saturday, the Gaza Ministry of Health said that five of its employees were killed and five others were injured by Israeli fire that attacked the ministry’s warehouses south of Musbah.
Controversial discourses on the use of schools and hospitals
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the Israeli army has hit many schools, which are home to tens of thousands of Palestinians who were driven from their homes by Israeli attacks and orders to leave. The conflict has left 90% of the Palestinian population in Gaza displaced, according to United Nations figures.
The military has been accusing Hamas of operating inside Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, including schools, UN facilities and hospitals. The conflicting reports on the use of schools and hospitals go to the heart of the year-long dispute.
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Earlier this month, an Israeli strike hit a school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing 14, according to Palestinian medical officials. The Israeli military said it was targeting Hamas terrorists who were planning an attack inside the school.
In July, Israeli airstrikes hit a girls’ school in Deir al-Balah, killing at least 30 people sheltering inside. Israel’s military said it targeted a Hamas facility used to train its fighters and store “large amounts of weapons.”
The war began when Hamas-led fighters killed around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in an attack on Oct. 7 in southern Israel. They kidnapped another 250 people and they are still holding about 100 hostages. Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed at least 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians.
Growing conflicts in the region
Tensions rose sharply in the region on Friday after an Israeli airstrike in the Beirut suburb of Lebanon killed scores of people, including civilians and Ibrahim Akil, who commanded the Hezbollah elite Radwan Force. Another person killed was Ahmed Wahbi, another senior commander in the group’s military wing.
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The strike came hours after Hezbollah launched its first bombing campaign in northern Israel in a year-long conflict. Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system has intercepted many rockets.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Israel fired more than 400 rockets into Lebanon on Saturday.
Tens of thousands of Israelis protested Saturday night in Tel Aviv and in smaller protests across the country, demanding a ceasefire and the return of about 100 hostages still being held in Gaza. The protests, which take place every Saturday night, attracted a similar crowd compared to previous weeks despite the heightened security situation on Israel’s northern border.
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