A Palestinian woman carrying a child reacts, after an Israeli air strike on a UN school sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Nusairat in central Gaza Strip, July 6, 2024. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
At least 16 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinian families in central Gaza on Saturday, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The attack on the school in Al-Nuseirat also wounded over 50 people. The Israeli military claimed the strike targeted militants hiding in the area, while Hamas denied any presence of its fighters there.
Eyewitness Ayman al-Atouneh described seeing children among the dead, emphasizing the presence of a playground and vendors in the targeted area. Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Gaza Civil Emergency Service, warned that the death toll could rise due to the critical condition of many of the wounded. He highlighted that the attack indicated no place in the enclave was safe for families seeking shelters.
Al-Nuseirat, one of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps, experienced increased Israeli bombardment on Saturday. An earlier airstrike on a house in the camp killed at least 10 people and injured many others, according to medics. The Gaza health ministry reported that Israeli military strikes across the enclave had killed at least 29 Palestinians and wounded 100 others in the past 24 hours. The ministry noted that among the dead were five local journalists, bringing the total number of journalists killed since October 7 to 158.
Gaza health authorities claim that more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive, with officials stating that most of the dead are civilians. Israel asserts that 323 of its soldiers have been killed and at least a third of the Palestinian dead are fighters. The offensive began in response to a Hamas-led assault on Israel on October 7, which resulted in 1,200 deaths and over 250 hostages being taken, according to Israeli figures.
In Rafah, near the Egyptian border, Israeli forces intensified their operations, killing four Palestinian policemen and wounding eight others in an airstrike on their vehicle. The Hamas-run interior ministry identified one of the deceased as Fares Abdel-Al, the head of the police force in western Rafah’s Tel Al-Sultan neighborhood. The Israeli military reported that its forces continued “intelligence-based operations” in Rafah, destroying underground structures, seizing weapons, and killing several Palestinian gunmen.
Israel stated that its Rafah operations aim to eliminate the last Hamas armed wing battalions. Additionally, the Israeli military claimed to have eliminated a Hamas rocket cell in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza, after ensuring measures to avoid civilian harm. The armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad reported attacking Israeli forces in various Gaza areas with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs.
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