At least 80 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Saturday morning that hit a school used as a shelter in Gaza City, local authorities said.
Israel said the school was being used as a Hamas command center, a claim the militant group denied. The strike is one of the deadliest since the start of the war.
Fadel Naeem, director of the city’s al-Ahli hospital, said his hospital received 70 bodies from the attack and body parts from another 10 people killed, the Associated Press reported. Gaza’s Health Ministry said another 47 people were injured.
Israel acknowledged the attack, arguing that at least 20 Hamas and “Islamic Jihad militants” operated from the compound.
“Based on Israeli intelligence, approx. 20 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, including senior commanders, operated from the stricken Al-Tabaeen school compound, using it to carry out terrorist attacks,” Nadav Shoshani, spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). he wrote.
“According to an initial analysis, the numbers published by the Hamas-run Government Information Office in Gaza do not align with the information held by the IDF, the precise munitions used, and the precision of the attack,” he added.
A spokesman for Civil Defense rescuers, who operate under the Hamas government, told the AP that three missiles hit the school and mosque. The school also houses around 6,000 displaced people seeking shelter.
In recent months, Israel has intensified its attacks on schools in Gaza, with the UN Human Rights Office detecting at least 17 attacks on campuses in the previous month – seven in the last eight days. Those attacks killed 163 people, according to local authorities.
From July 6th, the UN found that 477 of the 564 schools in Gaza were directly hit or damaged in the war.
The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borell, condemned Israel’s attacks on schools in recent days, including Saturday’s attack.
“Horrified by images of a school in Gaza hit by an Israeli attack, with reportedly dozens of Palestinian victims,” he he wrote on social media platform X. “At least 10 schools have been targeted in recent weeks. There is no justification for these massacres.”
Israel attacked two other schools on Thursday in Gaza City, killing at least 15 people, the AP reported.
Schools have increasingly begun to serve as shelters since Israel destroyed much of the physical infrastructure in Gaza following Hamas’ initial attack on Israel on October 7. More than 250 civilians were taken hostage during the event and more than 1,200 Israelis were killed.
The attack also comes as the US, Egypt and Qatar work with Israel and Hamas to secure a ceasefire and hostage return agreement in the region.
Egypt told the news agency that the attack on the school showed that Israel had no intention of reaching a ceasefire. Qatar also demanded an international investigation, calling the attack a “heinous crime” against civilians.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
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