The
strike took place at a sensitive moment in mediated negotiations on a
ceasefire agreement entailing the release of hostages seized by Hamas on
Oct. 7 and some of the Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Hamas seeks a
permanent end to the war. Israel says it must destroy the Islamist group first.
Dozens reported killed in strike on Gaza school that Israel says targeted Hamas
Israel strikes an UNRWA affiliated school in Nusairat Refugee Camp, killing 27 civilians. Israel claims that their forces were targeting Hamas.
Abone Ol
Israel hit a Gaza school on Thursday in an airstrike that it said targeted and killed Hamas fighters inside, while a Hamas official said 40 people including women and children were killed as they sheltered in the U.N. site.
The
United States issued a joint statement with other countries on Thursday
calling on Israel and Hamas to make whatever compromises were necessary
to finalise a deal as the two sides gave contradictory accounts of the
school attack.
Ismail
Al-Thawabta, the director of the Hamas-run government media office,
rejected Israel's assertion that the U.N. school in Nuseirat, in central
Gaza, had hidden a Hamas command post.
"The
occupation uses ... false fabricated stories to justify the brutal
crime it conducted against dozens of displaced people," Thawabta told the press.
Israel's
military said its fighter jets had carried out a "precise strike" and
circulated satellite photos highlighting two parts of a building where
it said the fighters were based.
"We're
very confident in the intelligence," military spokesperson Lt Col.
Peter Lerner told a briefing with reporters, accusing Hamas and Islamic
Jihad fighters of deliberately using U.N. facilities as operational
bases.
He
said 20-30 fighters were located in the compound, and many of them had
been killed, but had no precise details as intelligence assessments were
being carried out. "I'm not aware of any civilian casualties and I'd be
very, very cautious of accepting anything that Hamas puts out," he
said.
The
school, run by the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), may have
been hit several times, said the agency's communications director,
Juliette Touma.
She
said she could not confirm the death toll at this stage. Media in
Hamas-run Gaza had earlier put the toll at 35-40. Thawabta and a medical
source said 40 had been killed, including 14 children and nine women.
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