GAZA STRIP: Gaza's civil defence agency said on Sunday Israeli strikes killed at least 28 Palestinians, as the director of one of two hospitals still operating in the territory's north reported bombardment nearby.
More than 14 months into the Israel-Hamas war, there was no let-up in the violence in the Gaza Strip even as Palestinian groups involved in the fighting said a ceasefire deal was "closer than ever".
Israel has faced growing criticism of its actions during the war, triggered by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, including from rights groups accusing it of "acts of genocide" which the Israeli government strongly denies.
Pope Francis denounced on Sunday the "cruelty" of Israel's bombardment, highlighting the deaths of children and attacks on schools and hospitals in Gaza for the second time in as many days, while Israel accused the pontiff of "double standards".
On the ground in Gaza, civil agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said that at least 13 people were killed in an air strike on a house in central Gaza's Deir el-Balah belonging to the Abu Samra family.
An AFP photographer saw residents searching through the debris for survivors, while others looked for belongings they could salvage.
In a nearby compound, bodies covered in blankets were laid on the ground.
"We are... losing loved ones every day," said Deir Al Balah resident Naim al Ramlawi.
"I pray to God that a truce will be reached soon" and would allow Gazans to finally "live a decent life, instead of this miserable life", he said.
There was no comment from the Israeli military, which has confirmed a separate strike further north, on a school in Gaza City.
Bassal said that eight people, including four children, were killed in the attack on the school, which had been repurposed as a shelter for Palestinians displaced by the war.
The Israeli military said it had carried out a "precise strike" overnight targeting a Hamas "command and control centre" inside the school compound in the city's east. — AFP
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