At least 24 Palestinians have been killed in two separate Israeli air strikes overnight, including a strike on a school sheltering displaced families in central Gaza, according to medics and Civil Defence officials.
Fahmi Al-Jargawi School in Gaza City had been housing hundreds of displaced people from the town of Beit Lahia, currently under intense Israeli military assault.
A spokesperson for Gaza’s Hamas-run Civil Defence said 20 bodies, including those of children, were recovered – many were severely burned, after fires engulfed two classrooms turned into living quarters.
The Israeli military (IDF) said it had targeted “a Hamas and Islamic Jihad command and control centre”.
The IDF said the area was being used “by the terrorists to plan… attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops”, and accused Hamas of using “the Gazan population as human shields”.
“Flames were everywhere. I saw charred bodies lying on the ground,” said Rami Rafiq, a resident living across from the school, in a phone call with BBC. “My son fainted when he saw the horrific scene.” (BBC)