At least 28 people were killed in an Israeli attack on a former school building in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Palestinian medical officials said.
The attack on the central city of Deir al-Balah also wounded dozens of people, the Hamas-controlled health ministry said in the closed-off coastal area.
The building was used to house Gazans internally displaced by the years-long war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants.
The Israeli military said it had attacked a Hamas command center located in the building and that measures had been taken to reduce the risk to civilians.
The information provided by both parties could not be independently verified.
The Gaza war was sparked by the unprecedented terrorist attack on southern Israel by Hamas and its allies just over a year ago. Militia members and other gunmen killed more than 1,200 people and abducted another 250 or so to the Gaza Strip.
Since then, Israel has been waging a war in an attempt to destroy Hamas, both as a military force and as a political organization.
The number of Palestinians killed since the war began has risen to more than 42,000, according to health authorities in Gaza.
The Israeli army releases information about the strike in Jabalia
Meanwhile, additional information emerged Thursday about the victims of an Israeli airstrike Wednesday on Jabalia in northern Gaza.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said at least 12 of the dead were members of the military wing of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
Some of them had been involved in the massacre in Israel a year ago, including a commander of Hamas’ elite Nukhba unit.
The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported fifteen deaths in the attack on Wednesday. The target was reportedly a hospital courtyard. Tents of displaced people were also affected, the report said.
The Israeli military, on the other hand, said the target was a Hamas command center. This was located in an area of the Gaza Strip that had previously served as a medical facility. The Israeli army claimed that weapons had also been found there.
It spoke of what it called another example of the systematic abuse of the civilian population and civilian infrastructure by terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said numerous measures were taken before the attack using precision munitions to reduce the risk of harm to civilians.
The information could not be independently verified.
According to reports, fighting continued in Jabalia. According to the Israeli army, Hamas has tried to regroup there.
Despite the Israeli army’s renewed ground operation in the area, local residents refused to flee to the south of the coastal area, WAFA reported.
Reports that Israel wants to capture UNRWA headquarters
There were reports on Thursday that Israel wants to seize the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in East Jerusalem.
The Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom and WAFA reported that 1,440 housing units will be built there. The responsible Israeli land authority initially did not comment on the reports when asked.
The UN aid agency closed its headquarters in East Jerusalem in May after a fire in the building. Israeli residents had set the site on fire twice. This caused significant damage to the outdoor area.
There were also repeated protests against the organization there.
Israel accuses the Palestinian aid organization in the Gaza Strip of being infiltrated by Hamas. Several employees of the organization are also said to have been involved in the massacre of October 7, 2023. The UN also concluded that some employees may have been involved in the attack.
The Israeli parliament is currently in the process of introducing a law that would classify UNRWA as a terrorist organization and, according to media reports, ban its operations on Israeli soil. It could be adopted soon.
