The Israeli army has announced that it had carried out a deadly strike on a UN school in central Gaza that it claimed housed a “Hamas compound”, with the Hamas media office saying at least 27 people were killed, AFP reports.

Israeli “fighter jets… conducted a precise strike on a Hamas compound embedded inside a UNRWA school in the area of Nuseirat”, the army said in a statement, adding that “several terrorists were “eliminated”.

“Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who belonged to the Nukhba Forces and took part in the murderous attack on communities in southern Israel on October 7th were operating in the compound,” it said. “The terrorists directed terror from the area of the school while exploiting it and using it as a shelter.”

The Hamas media office said at least 27 people were killed and dozens injured in the strike and taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. It accused the Israeli army of carrying out a “horrific massacre […] that shames humanity”.

The hospital reported an electrical generator failure earlier in the night, which risked complicating the treatment of patients.