Israeli airstrike smashes school-turned shelter in Gaza killing 80, claim Palestinians
AN Israeli airstrike hit a school-turned-shelter in Gaza yesterday, killing at least 80 people, Palestinian health authorities said.
It is one of the deadliest aerial bombardments in the ten-month conflict.
The Israeli military acknowledged it targeted the Tabeen school in Gaza City, claiming it hit a Hamas command centre within it.
Hamas denied militants were there.
The United Nations said the latest strike was part of Israel’s increasing attacks on Gaza’s schools, which have been turned into shelters for people who have been forced to flee their homes by the war.
The EU’s Josep Borrell said in a statement posted on X: “There’s no justification for these massacres”.
Israel has blamed civilian deaths in Gaza on Hamas, saying the group endangers noncombatants by using schools and residential neighborhoods as bases for operations and attacks.
Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said in a statement on X that intelligence indicated about 20 militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, including senior commanders, were using the Tabeen school compound to plan attacks on Israeli forces.
He also questioned the casualty numbers issued by the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The strike came as American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators renewed their push for the two parties to achieve a cease-fire agreement
Tensions have soared in the region following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut.