GAZA: Gaza's civil defence agency said an Israeli strike on a school-turned- shelter killed at least 12 people on Tuesday, while the Israeli military said it struck a Hamas command centre.
"Our crews retrieved 12 martyrs from the Mustafa Hafiz school, which was bombed by the Israeli occupation west of Gaza City," agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said.
Thousands of displaced Palestinians had sought refuge in the school, he said, amid the ongoing brutal war in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said the school was targeted because it housed a command-and-control centre. "Hamas used the command-and-control centre to plan and execute attacks against IDF (Israeli army) troops and the State of Israel," the military said in a statement. It said it carried out a "precise strike on gunmen who were operating" inside the school.
Bassal had earlier given a toll of seven dead and 15 wounded in the strike, which he said had hit the second floor of the school building. The latest death toll figure could not be independently verified.
Photos showed the school reduced to rubble, with sores of Palestinian men and women, many holding children, fleeing the site after the strike.
In recent weeks, the Israeli military has struck several schools across Gaza, primarily in Gaza City, accusing them of housing Hamas command centres, which the Palestinian group denies.
Earlier this month, the military had struck the Al-Tabieen School in Gaza City, which according to the civil defence agency killed 93 Palestinians, while the military said 31 militants died.
Tens of thousands of displaced people have taken refuge in schools since the war broke out on October 7 after Palestinian groups attacked southern Israel.
Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 40,173 people in Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry. Most of the dead in Gaza are women and children, according to the UN human rights office.
Meanwhile, top US diplomat Antony Blinken was in Egypt on Tuesday for talks on a Gaza ceasefire after saying Israel had accepted a US "bridging proposal" for a deal and urging Hamas to do the same. Blinken, on his ninth visit to the Middle East, flew to El Alamein, the Mediterranean city famous for a World War II battle, and began talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at his summer palace. Afterwards, he will head to a meeting with Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, in Doha, the scene of ceasefire talks last week. Both Egypt and Qatar are working alongside the United States to broker a truce in the 10-month Gaza conflict. — AFP
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