80 people killed in Israeli strike on school-turned-shelter in Gaza City, Palestinian health officials say
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The number of people killed in an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City has risen to 80, Palestinian health officials have said.
An estimated 6,000 displaced people were sheltering in Tabeen school when it was struck by three missiles, according to a spokesperson for the Civil Defence agency, which operates under the Hamas-run government.
The Israeli army said it had struck a “Hamas control centre” but did not provide evidence and Hamas denied having a base at the school.
Egypt’s foreign ministry condemned the strike and said the “deliberate killing” of Gaza civilians showed Israel lacked a political will to end the war in the besieged enclave.
The strikes hit before sunrise as people gathered in a mosque inside the school for prayers, a witness said.
Israel said it had struck a ‘Hamas control centre’. Pic: AP
Abu Anas, who worked to rescue people, said: “There were people praying, there were people washing and there were people upstairs sleeping, including children, women and old people.
“The missile fell on them without warning. The first missile, and the second. We recovered them as body parts.”
Casey Harrity from Save The Children told Sky News’s Saima Mohsin “up to 100 people” may have died in what she called “the worst attack since October”.
She warned “there are still bodies that are dismembered that are under rubble they [rescue workers] are attempting to pull out.
Palestinians pray next to the bodies of those killed in the attack on the school. Pic: Reuters
“Nearly half the population of Gaza is children. There were children living in this shelter. We must stop the attacks on children.”
Ms Harrity said children are “the most vulnerable” in the conflict.
“If you look just at the blasts, children are seven times more likely to die in an attack like this, because their bodies are thrown further, they’re thrown faster, their bones bend, they have limbs ripped off.
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Strikes on schools ‘can’t be normalised’
“Children are dying not only from the attacks, but from preventable diseases and from malnourishment.”
Palestinian health authorities said 80 people have been killed, while the Hamas-run Gaza government put the number at more than 100.
About 20 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants were operating from the targeted Gaza school, an Israeli military spokesperson said.
Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said casualty figures given by the Hamas-run media office “do not align with the information held by the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces), the precise munitions used, and the accuracy of the strike”.
Scene of carnage after strike – and it won’t help ceasefire chances
The Israelis say they used precise munitions to strike their target, a building in a mosque and school complex in Gaza City.
The pictures we have seen bear that out. It appears to have been a direct hit.
They say they took steps to mitigate civilian harm including aerial surveillance and intelligence gathered before the strike.
If so, those steps appear to have failed. The footage from inside the building is horrendous, a scene of carnage with dozens of bodies and body parts.
We have counted 20 bodies from the pictures, Palestinians say as many as 100 died.
Sky News and all other news organisations are barred from sending jounrnalists into Gaza so verification of these facts is hard to achieve.
But it is fair to say that in the past the apparent loss of so many civilians in a military attack in Gaza would be met with soul searching in the Israeli media.
They now happen with such regularity we just move from one to the other. The death toll is approaching 40,000 Palestinian lives in this appalling conflict.
Diplomacy is gathering pace to achieve a ceasefire once more but this kind of tragedy does not help its chances of success.
The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said: “The Israeli strikes targeted the displaced people while performing Fajr [dawn] prayers, a matter led to a rapid increase in the number of casualties.”
The Israeli army said its air forces “struck [a] command and control centre served as a hideout for Hamas terrorists and commanders”.
Families appeared distraught at the loss of life and destruction from Saturday’s attack. Pic: AP
It added: “The Israeli Air Force precisely struck Hamas terrorists operating within a Hamas command and control centre embedded in the Al-Taba’een school and located adjacent to a mosque in Daraj Tuffah, which serves as a shelter for the residents of Gaza City.
“Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and intelligence information.”
An estimated 6,000 people were sheltering at the school. Pic: AP
Hamas said the strike was a horrific crime and a serious escalation. Israel says the militant group embeds among Gaza’s civilians, operating from within schools, hospitals and designated humanitarian zones – which Hamas denies.
Israel has been at war with Hamas in Gaza since the militant group’s 7 October attack, which saw 1,200 people killed in southern Israel and 250 more taken hostage.
Since then, Israel has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to figures from health officials in the enclave, who say thousands of others are feared dead under the rubble.
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According to the United Nations, 477 out of 564 schools in Gaza have been directly hit or damaged in the war as of 6 July.
Egypt, the US and Qatar have scheduled a new round of ceasefire negotiations for Thursday, as fears are
growing of a broader conflict involving Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has said he will not end the war until Hamas no longer poses a threat to
Israelis, said a delegation would be sent to the 15 August talks.
A Hamas official told Reuters the group was studying the new offer for talks but did not elaborate.