An Israeli air strike struck a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City on Saturday, according to Palestinian rescuers who reported five fatalities. The Israeli military claimed it had targeted Hamas. Thousands of Palestinians displaced by the ongoing conflict, now in its 12th month, have sought refuge in the Shuhada Al Zeitun school, stated Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the civil defence agency in the Gaza Strip.
This marks the latest school housing displaced Gazans to be hit by an Israeli air strike, resulting in 'five martyrs, including two children and a woman,' Bassal informed AFP, adding that several others were injured. AFP was unable to independently confirm the death toll. Bassal noted that the bodies 'were extracted from beneath the rubble after Israeli warplanes struck the Shuhada Al Zeitun school with two missiles.'
The Israeli military asserted it conducted a 'precise strike' on the school compound, which 'was utilized by Hamas terrorists.' Earlier on Saturday, the civil defence agency reported an Israeli air strike on a house in another part of Gaza City that killed at least 11 people, with additional strikes overnight in other areas of the Hamas-run territory resulting in at least 10 deaths.
The Israeli military has targeted several schools-turned-shelters in recent months, accusing Hamas of concealing militants among the civilian population—a claim denied by the Palestinian group. A similar strike on Wednesday at the Al Jawni school in central Gaza's Nuseirat resulted in at least 18 deaths, according to the civil defence agency. UN officials reported that six of the deceased at Al-Jawni were staff members of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
The vast majority of the Gaza Strip's 2.4 million inhabitants have been displaced at least once by the war, which was initiated by Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, with many seeking safety in school buildings.
