28 people killed in Israeli strike on school in central Gaza

CAIRO (Reuters): An Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced people in central Gaza killed at least 28 people, including women and children, on Thursday, while three hospitals in the north were told to evacuate putting patients’ lives at risk, medics say.

The strike, in which many more were wounded, happened in the city of Deir Al-Balah, where a million people have taken shelter after fleeing fighting elsewhere after more than a year of war.

The Israeli military said on Thursday it had carried out a “precise strike on Hamas”, who had a command and control centre embedded in a school.

“This is a further example of the Hamas organization’s systematic abuse of civilian infrastructure in violation of international law,” the military statement said.

Hamas denies such allegations. Medics said 54 other people were wounded at the school.

In the north of the enclave, the Israeli military is pushing on with an offensive begun six days ago, when it sent its troops into Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps and the nearby towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya.

Palestinian health officials say at least 130 people have been killed so far in the operation, which Israel says is aimed at preventing Hamas from regrouping.

The military has told residents to evacuate an area in which the UN estimates more than 400,000 people are trapped.

The health officials said the Israeli military on Wednesday gave patients and medics 24-hours to leave the Indonesian, Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals or risk being stormed as happened earlier in the war at the Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

Israel, which has not yet commented on evacuation orders for medical facilities, has said Hamas has command facilities embedded in the hospitals, which it denies.

Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital said, eight patients, mostly children, were at risk inside the intensive care units should the army force them to evacuate.

“Those children were injured with shrapnel all over their bodies, the upper parts and the brain. They are all in critical conditions and are hooked to oxygen systems,” Abu Safiya said in a video message to the media.

“The hospital is also running out of fuel, and the occupation is refusing fuel to reach northern Gaza,” he added.

Appeal for help

Abu Safiya appealed to world countries to press Israel to allow medical staffers in north Gaza’s three hospitals to continue to operate saying “Our message is a message of peace for the sake of those children.”

“We urge the world to allow us to continue (working) and permit all things needed so that we can provide safe medical care in northern Gaza,” he said.

Israeli bombardment near Kamal Adwan Hospital has already caused some damage to the facility, medics said. Officials said they know of many fatalities lying on the roads outside the hospital because of Israeli fire.

The Israeli military told residents of Jabalia and nearby areas to head to humanitarian-designated zones in southern Gaza, but Palestinian and UN officials say there are no safe places to flee to in the densely populated enclave.

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, told the Security Council: “Hundreds of thousands of people are again being pushed to move to the south, where living conditions are intolerable.

“Yet again, Gazans are teetering on the edge of a man-made famine,” he said.

Residents said Israeli armed forces have encircled Jabalia from all directions, and ordered them to leave through one corridor. They said troops were interrogating those leaving and making arrests, while anyone trying to leave via a different route gets fired at.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad said they were fighting against Israeli forces with anti-tank rockets, and mortar bombs.

The Israeli military said it killed dozens of fighters, located weapons, and dismantled military infrastructure in the north.

It has since turned its focus to its northern border with an offensive against Hamas ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, in an escalation of the conflict that risks a broader war in the Middle East.

More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, the Gaza health ministry says. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced and much of the enclave has been laid to waste.