The Israeli military attacked a school near Deir al-Balah, a city in central Gaza, killing at least 30 Palestinians and wounding more than 100, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Telegram that a Hamas command and control center was incorporated into the Khadija School.
The IDF added that Hamas used the compound as a hideout to direct and plan attacks and store weapons.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said images showed the victims were civilians and most of them were children. The BBC verified a video showing children among the injured.
Gaza’s civil defense service said the school was housing displaced people. Hamas condemned the attack in a statement on Telegram, saying that “displaced, sick and injured people, the majority of whom were women and children” were killed.
Verified video from the scene shows a chaotic situation, with people running around a rubble-strewn compound. Men carry two bloodied children in their arms, while a woman hugs another, and a group carries an injured man on a stretcher. A body lies on the floor covered by a blanket.
The IDF said that before the attack it took measures to reduce the risk to civilians “including the use of appropriate munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence.”
Gaza’s Health Ministry said 53 people had been killed and 189 injured since Saturday morning due to IDF shelling in Deir al-Balah and the southern city of Khan Younis.
The attack came as Israel continues its months-long military campaign in Gaza, which has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
The attack on Deir al-Balah was reported as the IDF ordered civilians on Saturday morning in the southern parts of Khan Younis to evacuate to a “humanitarian adjusted area” in al-Mawasi, a region along the coast.
The IDF said it was about to “operate by force” after reporting “significant” rocket fire into Israel from southern Khan Younis and “accurate intelligence indicating that Hamas has incorporated” infrastructure into the humanitarian area. The Israeli military warned civilians that “remaining in this area has become dangerous”.
The IDF has released maps showing an even smaller humanitarian area in al-Mawasi. The military shrank the zone on Monday when it ordered the evacuation of part of the humanitarian area ahead of an operation against Palestinian fighters who had apparently regrouped there.
Following the evacuation orders, the Gaza Ministry of Health he said at least 70 people were killed by Israeli strikes around Khan Younis.
Also on Saturday, in the West Bank, a 17-year-old boy was killed and nine people were injured in the Balata refugee camp, in Nablus, as a result of Israeli military action, reported the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian Authority.
The BBC contacted the IDF about the reports.
