At least 30 Palestinians were killed and another 100 wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a school building in the central Gaza Strip, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Saturday.
The building is believed to have housed a makeshift field hospital, the Hamas-controlled ministry said, but the information could not be independently verified.
The Israeli military said it had carried out an airstrike on the Khadija school in Deir al-Balah to destroy a Hamas command center located there.
Fighters from the Palestinian organization Hamas used the building to coordinate attacks on Israeli forces and hide weapons, the report said.
Hamas systematically uses civilian objects for its own purposes and uses civilians as shields, it said. This information could also not be independently verified.
The war in Gaza was sparked by the unprecedented massacre of more than 1,200 people by Hamas militants and other groups in Israel on October 7 last year.
Israel responded with massive airstrikes and a major ground offensive. According to Hamas officials, some 39,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since the conflict began.
Khan Younis operations continue
The Israeli army has called on Palestinian civilians in a part of the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis to leave the area immediately.
“Due to significant terrorist activities and rocket attacks on the State of Israel from the southern areas of Khan Younis, it has become dangerous to remain in this area,” the military said.
The area to be evacuated is located in a zone previously designated by Israel as a humanitarian zone. The boundaries of this zone will be changed accordingly, the army statement said.
Those affected were told to move to a nearby humanitarian zone in al-Mawasi.
The Israeli army’s call was made through text messages, phone calls and leaflets, the report said.
Israeli forces have been battling militants from the Islamist Hamas movement in Khan Younis for weeks as part of their effort to eliminate the group. Hamas forces are said to have regrouped in the city.
The Palestinian population is repeatedly caught in the crossfire during these battles. The frequent evacuation orders issued by the Israeli army often cause thousands of people to flee, some multiple times.
