Israeli airstrikes targeted a school being used by displaced people in central Gaza on Saturday, killing dozens of individuals as the country’s negotiators prepared to discuss a proposed cease-fire. At least 30 people sheltering at a girls’ school in Deir Al-Balah were killed in the strike, which Israel claimed targeted a Hamas command and control center used to store weapons and plan attacks. Gaza’s Health Ministry reported at least 11 additional fatalities in other strikes that day.
Near the hospital, Associated Press journalists witnessed the aftermath of the attack, with an ambulance rushing through a dusty road as people ran in the opposite direction. Injured individuals lay on stretchers, with bodies covered by blankets visible inside the ambulance. Within the school, classrooms lay in ruins as people searched for victims and gathered the remains of those who were killed. Israel’s military had ordered the evacuation of part of a designated humanitarian zone in Gaza ahead of planned strikes on Khan Younis the same day.
The evacuation order was in response to rocket fire that Israel claimed originated from the area, and the military planned an operation against Hamas militants in the city, including the Muwasi settlement. The strikes occurred just before officials from the U.S., Egypt, Qatar, and Israel were set to meet in Italy to discuss hostage and cease-fire negotiations. It was the second evacuation order issued in a week that included striking part of the humanitarian zone, affecting the thousands of Palestinians taking refuge there.
According to Israeli estimates, around 1.8 million Palestinians are currently sheltering in the humanitarian zone after multiple displacements during Israel’s air and ground campaign. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees expressed concerns about the forced displacements, highlighting the difficulties faced by those who have very little time to move. Further north in Gaza, Palestinians mourned the deaths of seven individuals killed in Israeli airstrikes, with community members gathering to perform funeral rights for the victims.
The war in Gaza has resulted in over 39,100 Palestinian deaths, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, with no distinction between combatants and civilians in the count. The U.N. estimated that around 17,000 children in the territory are unaccompanied, with the war’s impact likely to have grown since the initial estimate. The conflict began with a Hamas assault on southern Israel in October, resulting in the deaths of 1,200 people, with a significant number still hostage in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.
