Israeli strike kills 30 at Gaza school

An Israeli strike on a school has killed no fewer than 30 people in Gaza.

The incident on Saturday, July 27, 2024, occurred after a days-long military operation further south left about 170 people dead.

The latest strike, which Israel said targeted “terrorists”, was at least the eighth time since July 6 a school has been hit, leaving a total of more than 100 people dead, based on figures given by the health ministry and a hospital source.

With most of the Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million people displaced at least once during the war started by Hamas’s October 7 attack, many have sought refuge in school buildings including the one hit on Saturday.

The health ministry reported “30 martyrs and more than 100 wounded” in the strike on Khadija school in the central Deir el-Balah area.

Israel’s military said Palestinian militants were using the compound as a “hiding place”.

Further south, in the Khan Yunis city area, around 170 people have been killed “and hundreds wounded” in an Israeli operation since Monday, Gaza’s civil defence agency said.

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It issued the toll after the military warned of new operations in the Khan Yunis area, where troops had earlier recovered the bodies of five Israelis killed during the October 7 attack and held in Gaza since.

Egyptian state-linked media said Egyptian, Qatari, and United States mediators are to meet with Israeli negotiators in Rome on Sunday in the latest push for a Gaza truce, which critics of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have accused him of blocking.

Israel had warned on Monday that its forces would “forcefully operate” in the Khan Yunis area.

The United Nations said that by Thursday, more than 180,000 Palestinians had already fled fierce fighting there.

Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the civil defence agency, said many people had been displaced again on Saturday as the Israeli operation continued.

But with large parts of Khan Yunis “not suitable for living” and “no other options available”, civilians have struggled to find safety, he said.

The October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,258 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not provide details of civilian and militant deaths.

Its latest toll on Saturday included 83 deaths over the previous 48 hours.

The Star