Sylvie Claire / October 29, 2024
At least nine Palestinians, including a child, were killed on Sunday in an Israeli strike on a school converted into a shelter for displaced persons on the outskirts of Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip, emergency services said.
The strike on the Asmaa school, located inside the al-Chati refugee camp, also wounded several people, who were taken to the city's al-Chifa hospital. The Israeli army said it was “verifying” the information.
The school was home to “a large number of people who had fled the Jabalia region and the northern Gaza Strip”, where the Israeli army is conducting an offensive against Hamas, explained Hussein Mohsen, head of ambulance services at the city's rescue service. “This is not the first time Israeli planes have targeted schools”, he added.
Many civilians who have fled the fighting ravaging the besieged territory have taken refuge in schools. But several have been the target of strikes, with the Israeli army accusing the Islamist movement of hiding among the refugees and using the buildings as command centers, which it denies.
The north of the Gaza Strip is currently the scene of heavy fighting and bombardments between the army and Hamas fighters, who, according to the army, are regrouping there to reconstitute their troops after more than a year of war.