An Israeli airstrike on a school in central Gaza that was being used as a shelter for displaced Palestinians killed 14 people, the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip's civil defense agency said, including six of its staff, according to a United Nations report.
The UN's aid agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said the attack was the highest number of UNRWA staff killed in a single incident. It said the school and its surrounding area in Nuseira were hit by two airstrikes.
“Among those killed were UNRWA shelter managers and other team members assisting displaced people,” the UN agency said in a statement.
Earlier, the Israeli military said its air force had “carried out precision strikes on terrorists operating inside a Hamas command and control center” on the school grounds, but did not provide details on the outcome of the attack or the identities of those targeted.
The Hamas government media office said some 5,000 displaced people were taking shelter in the school at the time of Wednesday's attack.
“The school has been attacked five times since the start of the war and is home to around 12,000 displaced people, mainly women and children,” UNRWA said in a statement.
Israeli forces have attacked several such schools in recent months, alleging that Palestinian militants are operating there and hiding among the displaced people, charges Hamas denies.
At least 18 people were wounded in Wednesday's attack on Al Jawni School in Nuseirat refugee camp, a local health official told The Associated Press.
An IDF spokesman said before the attack “a series of measures were taken to reduce the possibility of civilian casualties, including the use of precision weapons, aerial photography and the gathering of additional intelligence.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said late Wednesday that “what is happening in Gaza is completely unacceptable.”
“Among those killed are six of our UNRWA colleagues,” Guterres said in a post on X.
The Israeli army has taken measures to reduce the risk of harm to civilians and claims that at least a third of Palestinian deaths in Gaza are militants. It accuses Hamas of using Palestinian civilians as human shields, a charge Hamas denies.
An airstrike on a house near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis early on Wednesday killed 11 people, including six siblings aged between 21 months and 21 years old, according to a European hospital that took in the wounded.
The war in Gaza is now in its 11th month and has left more than 41,000 Palestinians dead, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, while international efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas militant group have repeatedly stalled. The war began on Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, leaving 1,200 people dead and about 250 taken hostage.
Hamas said on Wednesday that negotiators reiterated their readiness to implement an “immediate” ceasefire in Israel and the Gaza Strip, based on an earlier U.S. proposal, without any new conditions being put forward by any party.
The group said in a statement that a negotiating team led by senior official Khalil al-Hayya met with mediators in Doha to discuss the latest situation in Gaza.
CIA Director William Burns, who is also the lead U.S. negotiator on Gaza, said Saturday that a more detailed ceasefire proposal would be made in the coming days.
A previous proposal put forward by President Joe Biden in June laid out a three-phase ceasefire in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages, but lingering issues remain, including control of the Philadelphia Corridor, a narrow strip of land on the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ignored protests at home and criticism from President Biden and vowed that Israel will not give up control of the strategic corridor.
In the Gaza Strip, nine people, including six women and children, were killed in an airstrike on a house in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza city late on Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Health and the Civil Defense.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army reported that a military helicopter crashed in the Rafah neighborhood of the southern Gaza city late Tuesday, killing two soldiers. The army said on Wednesday that the helicopter had crashed on landing, wounding eight more soldiers.
Maj. Gen. Tomer Barr said in a statement that the plane was engaged in a “life-saving operation” to extract injured soldiers when it crashed.
“An investigation committee has been appointed to look into the details of the accident,” he said, calling it an “operational accident.”
Reuters, Associated Press, AFP
