At least 22 Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school in Gaza City, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said.
According to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), the Hamas command center at the al-Falah school was attacked. According to Israel, the center is used by the militant group to “plan and carry out terrorist attacks against IDF forces and the State of Israel.”
The school, which was closed during the war, housed displaced people, the Health Ministry said.
The Israeli military said it had taken measures to reduce the risk of harm to civilians, including the use of precision munitions and aerial surveillance. It also accused Hamas of exploiting civilian infrastructure.
According to the Israeli military, Hamas “systematically violates international law by operating from civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and exploiting the civilian population of Gaza for terrorist activities.”
Hamas denies using schools and other civilian sites for military purposes.
According to the Hamas-run state news agency, Saturday’s attack in the al-Zaytoun area killed 13 children, including a three-month-old baby, and six women.
The civil protection agency in Gaza reported the same death toll, adding that one of the women was pregnant.
Also on Saturday, the Health Ministry said four of its employees were killed and six wounded in an Israeli “attack” on a Health Ministry warehouse in the Musabah area of southern Gaza. The ministry did not specify whether the incident was an airstrike.
The BBC has asked the Israeli military for comment on the report about the health workers who were killed.
Since the start of the latest conflict with Hamas on October 7, other schools have also been hit by Israeli airstrikes, some multiple times.
Earlier this month, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said six of her employees were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the al-Jaouni school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, which is sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians.
According to UNRWA, it was the fifth time the school was hit since October 7.
The Israeli military said it was carrying out a “precise strike against terrorists” who were planning attacks from the school. The military claimed that nine of the dead were members of the armed wing of Hamas and that three of them were UNRWA personnel.
Hamas fighters attacked Israel on October 7 last year, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage.
Israel responded with a military campaign in Gaza, killing more than 41,000 people, according to the Health Ministry.
