GAZA STRIP: Israeli strikes hit two schools and a hospital in Gaza, killing more than 40 Palestinians and leaving dozens of others injured, the Palestinian official news agency said.

Israel has struck at least 172 “designated shelters”, mostly schools, housing thousands of displaced families in past over 10 months, the Hamas-run government media office said, while the Israeli military claimed it struck a Hamas military compound “embedded in the schools”.

Footage circulated on Palestinian media showed bodies scattered inside the yard of one of two blast-wrecked schools as residents rushed to carry casualties, including children, and loaded them into ambulance vehicles that took them to at least two nearby hospitals.

As an Israeli air strike hit a hospital in central Gaza, health officials said at least 44 Palestinians were killed on Sunday.

Israeli forces have struck 172 designated shelters, housing thousands of displaced families in past over 10 months

The Palestinian official news agency WAFA and Hamas media said dozens were wounded in addition to the 25 fatalities in the schools of Hassan Salama and Al-Nasser, which housed Palestinian displaced families. They said the strike destroyed several structures inside the facilities.

The Israeli military accused Hamas of operating from within civilian property, though Hamas denies using civilian institutions for military purposes.

Earlier in the day, an Israeli strike inside the Al-Aqsa Hospital compound started a fire, and wounded at least 18 people as well as killing five, medical authorities said.

The Israeli military said it struck a militant who “conducted terror activities” and that secondary explosions indicated weapons were present in the area.

The hospital compound is in Deir Al-Balah, an area crowded with families displaced by fighting in other parts of the enclave.

Elsewhere in Deir Al-Balah, three Palestinians were killed when an Israeli missile struck a house. Separate Israeli strikes killed eight others inside their home in Jabalia camp in northern Gaza City and three inside a car.

Residents in areas southeast of the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis and to the north of Rafah, where there was heavy fighting last month, reported receiving evacuation orders from the Israeli military.

At least 39,550 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, health officials said.

Israeli forces have continued strikes and shelling in the Gaza Strip after diplomatic efforts in Cairo on Saturday ended without progress.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has insisted that Israel must retain control over areas on the border with Egypt and be able to control entry to northern Gaza, said Hamas had yet to agree to a proposed ceasefire.

Hamas has blamed Netanyahu for the lack of progress, saying he was “not interested” in ceasefire.

“Things about the agreement have gone beyond the details,” Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said. “Netanyahu is dragging the region into an unprecedented clash.”

Regional tension has soared after Hamas leader and former prime minister of Palestine Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated last week as both Hamas and Iran have accused Israel of carrying out the assassination and have pledged to respond.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2024