Relatives of Palestinians killed by Israel in Khan Younis gathered around their white-shrouded bodies before carrying them to their graves, Reuters reports.

Palestinian health officials said on Sunday at least 20 people, including children, were killed in the strike at the school sheltering displaced families in the city in the southern Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military said it had struck Hamas fighters operating from a compound that previously served as a UN-run school. It said the compound served also as a training camp to prepare and plan attacks against Israeli forces.

Women wept as the bodies of the family members were carried away on medical stretchers by men who laid them on the ground to perform funeral prayers.

“People were safe, staying in their homes (shelters) after they prayed the dinner prayer. They were sitting, sleeping, and staying put in their places,” said Manal Tafesh, whose brother and his children were among those killed.

“Our children are gone, our children are gone. Our youth are gone. Our children are gone, and our lineage ended. When will this darkness end? she told Reuters outside the morgue.

Read more here.

Palestinians inspect the damage in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on December 16. — Reuters
Palestinians inspect the damage in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on December 16. — Reuters

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