At least 16 people have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a school in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials have said. Dozens more have been injured.
The building was sheltering thousands of displaced people at Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The Israel Defence Force (IDF) said it struck several “terrorists operating in structures located in the area of Al-Jaouni School”.
Meanwhile, there have been reports that 10 people were killed in a separate airstrike on a house at the camp.
Video from the scene of the Nuseirat school strike shows adults and children screaming in a smoke-filled street covered in dust and rubble, as they run to help the wounded.
Eyewitnesses told the BBC that the attack targeted the upper floors of the school, which is located near a busy market.
The BBC understands that up to 7,000 people were using the building as shelter.
One woman told the AFP news agency how some children were killed as they were reading the Koran when the building was hit.
“This is the fourth time they have targeted the school without warning,” she said.
A local source said the target was a room allegedly used by Hamas police. The BBC is unable to verify this claim.
Hamas said five local journalists were among those killed in Israeli attacks on Saturday. Members of their family were also reportedly targeted.
More than 100 journalists have lost their lives in Gaza since the 7 October attacks, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Hamas said the five latest fatalities brings the number to 158.
In a statement posted to X – formerly known as Twitter – the IDF confirmed it had hit the school buildings, saying it had taken “numerous steps” to “mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise aerial surveillance and additional intelligence”.
Hamas militants were using the location as a “hideout” to carry out attacks against IDF troops, it said.
“Hamas continues to systematically violate international law by exploiting civilian structures and the civilian population as human shields for its terrorist attacks against the State of Israel,” it added.
Hamas called the attack a “massacre” on “defenceless displaced civilians”.
Many of the dead and wounded were women, children and the elderly, the group claimed via its English language Telegram channel. (BBC)