Israeli airstrike on Gaza school kills 28, including women and children

An Israeli airstrike on a school for displaced people in central Gaza killed at least 28, including women and children, while three northern hospitals were ordered to evacuate, endangering patients' lives, according to medics, News.Az reports citing Reuters .

The strike, in which many more were wounded, occurred in the city of Deir Al-Balah where a million people have taken shelter after fleeing fighting elsewhere after more than a year of war.

The Israeli military said on Thursday it had carried out a "precise strike on terrorists" who had a command and control centre embedded in a school.

"This is a further example of the Hamas terrorist organisation’s systematic abuse of civilian infrastructure in violation of international law," a military statement said.

The Palestinian militant group denies such accusations. Medics said 54 other people were injured at the school.

In Gaza's north, the Israeli military waspursuing an offensive begun six days ago when it sent its troops into Jabalia, the largest of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps, and the nearby towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya.

Palestinian health officials say at least 130 people have been killed so far in the operation, which Israel says is aimed at preventing Hamas from regrouping.


The military has told residents to evacuate an area in which the U.N. estimates more than 400,000 people are trapped.

The health officials said the Israeli military on Wednesday gave patients and medics 24 hours to leave the Indonesian, Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals or risk being stormed as happened earlier in the war at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

Israel, which has not yet commented on evacuation orders for medical facilities, has said Hamas has command facilities concealed within the hospitals, which it denies.

Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, said eight patients, mostly children with critical shrapnel wounds, were at risk inside intensive-care units should the army force their evacuation, and the hospital was also running out of fuel.

News.Az