An Israeli airstrike at a school in Gaza on Thursday claimed the lives of more than 35 people, with many more injured, according to local officials.
The Israel Defense Forces defended the “precise attack” on the compound embedded within a school in Nuseirat and said it took out 20-30 terrorists, some of whom it alleged participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
The Gaza Ministry of Health, led by Hamas, posted on social media that those killed in a strike on the Al-Nusseirat Boys Preparatory school included 14 children and nine women.
The death toll has not been independently verified. The Gaza Ministry of Health has been repeatedly accused of dramatically inflating the death toll following an attack.
Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said he was “not aware of any civilian casualties.”
“We conducted a precise strike against the terrorists where they were,” he said.
Khalil Daqran, a spokesman for the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the Gaza city of Deir al Balah, said 40 bodies were brought to the hospital, including women, children, and seniors, though he did not provide precise numbers for each.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital is now the only functioning hospital in central Gaza and has been operating at three times its normal capacity.
Displaced Gazans often try to set up tents or find apartments near United Nations facilities or medical units in the hope that by being near aid workers, they will be safe. Israeli officials, however, have said since October 2023 that they will target wherever they believe Hamas is operating.
Last week, two areas near Rafah, where civilians had sought refuge, were targeted in attacks. At one tent camp, 45 people were killed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the civilian deaths a “tragic accident.”
Another strike, just a few days later near Al-Mawasi, on the outskirts of Rafah, killed 21 people, though Israel denied responsibility for that strike.
Khalil Farid, a 57-year-old teacher in Nuseirat, told the New York Times his neighborhood had been hit so many times that “there are no windows in our house left to be smashed.” Farid added that he and his family have stopped trying to get out.
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“At home, you know who is sharing the place with you, who your neighbors are, and it makes you feel safer somehow,” he said. “But deep inside, I know nowhere is safe.”
Thursday’s assault comes one day after the Israeli military announced a new ground and air assault in central Gaza, claiming Hamas militants have regrouped there.
