Israeli airstrikes on a school in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 22 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to the Gaza Strip’s Hamas-run Health Ministry.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it targeted a Hamas command center at Al-Falah School, which Israel said the militant group was using to “plan and carry out terrorist attacks against IDF forces and the State of Israel.”
The school, which was closed during the war, was used to house displaced people, according to the Ministry of Health.
The IDF said it had taken measures to reduce the risk of harm to civilians, including the use of precision weapons and aerial surveillance, and accused Hamas of misusing civilian infrastructure.
The Israel Defense Forces said Hamas “systematically violates international law by operating from inside the Gaza Strip’s civilian infrastructure and using Gaza’s civilians to carry out terrorist activities.”
Hamas denies using schools or other civilian facilities for military purposes.
The Hamas-run government media office said 13 children, including a three-month-old baby, and six women were among those killed in Saturday’s attack in the al-Zaytun area.
Gaza’s Civil Defense reported a similar death toll, adding that one of the women was pregnant.
The Health Ministry also said on Saturday that an Israeli “attack” on its warehouse in the Musaba neighborhood in southern Gaza had killed four staff members and wounded six. The ministry did not say whether the incident was an airstrike.
The BBC has contacted the IDF for comment on reports of the killings of medical workers.
Other schools have been hit by Israeli airstrikes, some multiple times, since the latest clashes with Hamas began on October 7.
Earlier this month, the United Nations Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said six staff members were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Al-Jawni School in Nuseirat refugee camp, which is sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians.
Unruwa said this was the fifth time since October 7 that the school has come under attack.
The Israeli army said it had carried out “precision strikes against terrorists” who were planning an attack from the school. The army said nine of those killed were members of Hamas’ militant wing and three were UNRWA workers.
Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7 last year, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
Israel responded with a military operation in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 41,000 people, according to the health ministry.
