World

Israel targets displaced Gazans, 61 killed

An Israeli air strike on the Halima Al Sa'diyya school compound serving as a shelter for displaced people in the Jabalia urban refugee camp killed at least eight people and wounded 15 others

A man holds a sign during a demonstration in support of Palestinians in Gaza, in London, Britain. — Reuters
 
A man holds a sign during a demonstration in support of Palestinians in Gaza, in London, Britain. — Reuters
CAIRO: Israeli military strikes across the Palestinian Gaza Strip killed at least 61 people in the space of 48 hours, local medics said on Saturday, as Israeli forces battled Palestinians in the territory.

Eleven months into the war, numerous rounds of diplomacy have so far failed to clinch a ceasefire deal to end the conflict and bring the release of Israeli and foreign hostages held in Gaza as well as many Palestinians jailed in Israel.

An Israeli air strike on the Halima Al Sa'diyya school compound serving as a shelter for displaced people in the Jabalia urban refugee camp killed at least eight people and wounded 15 others, medics said.

The Israeli military said the strike had targeted a Hamas command centre inside the compound. It accused the Palestinian group of repeatedly exploiting civilians and civilian infrastructure for military purposes, an allegation Hamas denies. Five more people were killed in a strike on a house in Gaza City.

Later on Saturday, an Israeli strike killed four people and wounded 25 others at Amr Ibn Ala'as school, which also houses displaced families in the Sheikh Radwan suburb of Gaza City, Palestinian medics said.

The Israeli military said the air strike targeted a command centre operated by gunmen in the compound that had previously served as a school.

Palestinian health officials said Israeli military strikes had killed so far 28 people across the Gaza Strip on Saturday.

The two warring sides continued to blame one another for the failure of mediators, including Qatar, Egypt and the United States, to broker a ceasefire. The US is preparing to present a new proposal, but the prospects of a breakthrough appear dim as gaps between the sides remain large.

CIA Director William Burns, the chief US negotiator, told an event in London that a more detailed proposal would be made in the coming days.

Despite the deadlock, the United Nations, in collaboration with local health authorities, has pursued a campaign to vaccinate 640,000 children in Gaza after its first polio case in around 25 years. Limited pauses in the fighting have allowed the campaign to proceed. US officials said they were making progress, having reached over half of the children needing the drops in the first two stages in the southern and central Gaza Strip.

Israel's subsequent assault on the enclave has killed over 40,900 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, while also displacing nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, causing a hunger crisis and leading to genocide allegations at the World Court, which Israel denies. — Reuters