At least 28 people, including children, have died in a wave of Israeli military strikes throughout the Gaza Strip, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency.
A school sheltering displaced families was among the facilities struck, killing eight people including four children over the weekend, the agency said.
It comes as the UN issues a plea for Israel to cease its attacks in the vicinity of a hospital in Gaza’s north.
The Israeli military claimed a Hamas command centre was inside the compound of the Musa bin Nusair school in Gaza City, and has not commented on reports of attacks by the hospital.
“Hamas systematically violates international law,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on social media, adding that Israel’s response would be to “act with force and determination against the terrorist organisations”.
Gaza’s civil defence agency spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal told the AFP news agency that the school had been repurposed as a shelter for Palestinians displaced by the war.
One displaced man who had been staying at the school, Abu, told BBC Arabic that the attack came while he was asleep.
“We were sleeping peacefully, then suddenly we woke up to the sound of a very powerful explosion,” he said.
Another man, Mahmoud, said he was asleep in a tent in the schoolyard when the attack took place.
“Stones and shrapnel were flying, the school’s walls fell on our heads,” he told BBC Arabic.
On Sunday, Pope Francis condemned the Israeli attacks on Gaza for a second day in a row.
Peoplesmind
