An Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced people in central Gaza on Thursday killed at least 28 people, including women and children, while three hospitals in the north were ordered to evacuate, putting patients' lives at risk, doctors said.
The strike, which injured 54 other people, took place in the city of Deir al-Balah, where a million people had found refuge after fleeing fighting elsewhere in more than a year of war.
The Israeli military said Thursday it had carried out a “precision attack on terrorists” it said had a command and control center located at the school.
“This is another example of the Hamas terrorist organization's systematic abuse of civilian infrastructure in violation of international law,” the military statement said. Hamas has denied such allegations.
Israeli troops continue to expand operations in the north
In the north of the enclave, the Israeli military is continuing an offensive it launched six days ago when it sent 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 will prevent Hamas from regrouping.
The military ordered residents to evacuate the area where the United Nations estimates more than 400,000 people are trapped.
Health officials said Wednesday that the Israeli military has given patients and doctors 24 hours to leave its Indonesian hospitals, Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan, or risk being stormed, as happened earlier in the war at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
Israel, which has not yet commented on orders to evacuate medical facilities, said Hamas has command facilities located in hospitals, something the group denies.
Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, said eight patients – mostly children – in intensive care units would be at risk if the military forced them to evacuate.
“These children were injured by shrapnel all over their bodies, upper body and brain. All of them are in a critical condition and are connected to oxygen systems,” Abu Safiya said in a video message to the media.
“The hospital is also running out of fuel and the occupiers are refusing fuel to reach northern Gaza.”
The hospital authorities are appealing for help
Abu Safiyah appealed to international countries to put pressure on Israel to allow medical staff at three hospitals in northern Gaza to continue working, saying: “Our message is a message of peace for the sake of these children.”
“We call on the world to allow us to continue (work) and allow whatever is needed so that we can provide safe medical care in northern Gaza.”
Medics say Israeli bombing near Kamal Adwan has already caused some damage to the facility. Officials say they know of multiple deaths who lay on the roads outside the hospital as a result of the Israeli fire.
The Israeli military has ordered residents of Jabalia and nearby areas to go to designated humanitarian zones in southern Gaza, but Palestinian and UN officials say there are no safe places to escape in the densely populated enclave.
Thursday's attacks come days after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he had raised concerns with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about draft Israeli legislation that would prevent UNRWA from working in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres says a UNRWA ban would be “a disaster in the face of an already utter disaster.” He wrote to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, trying to dissuade him from developing legislation that would block UNRWA activities in Israel.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN's Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, told the Security Council: “Hundreds of thousands of people are again being forced to move to the south, where living conditions are unbearable.
“Once again, Gazans are teetering on the brink of man-made famine.”
Soldiers interrogate those leaving and arrest residents
Residents said Israeli forces surrounded Jabalia from all directions and ordered them to leave one corridor. They said soldiers were questioning those leaving and making arrests, and anyone trying to leave the country by another route was shot at.
The armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad said they were fighting Israeli forces with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs.
The Israeli military said it had killed dozens of militants, located weapons and dismantled military infrastructure in the north.
Israel launched an offensive against Hamas in Gaza after fighters from the Palestinian militant group attacked communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli records.
It has also since turned some attention to its northern border, launching an offensive against Hamas ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, leading to an escalation of the conflict that threatens a wider war in the Middle East.
Gaza's Health Ministry says more than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive. Most of Gaza's 2.3 million inhabitants were displaced and much of the enclave was destroyed.
