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An Israeli air strike tore through a Gaza City shelter housing displaced Palestinians on Saturday morning, killing around 100 people, according to authorities in the Hamas-run enclave.
The strike on the Al Taba’een school in the Daraj Tuffah neighbourhood came during dawn prayers, according to eyewitnesses, with video on social media from the scene showing masses of bodies in a makeshift hall.
If confirmed, the death toll would make it one of the deadliest Israeli attacks of the entire Gaza war, now entering its 11th month.
The Israeli military on Saturday confirmed it had struck the school, saying that it was targeting a “Hamas command and control centre” within which militants were taking cover and planning attacks.
“Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and intelligence information,” the Israeli military said in a statement, adding that the shelter for civilians displaced by the fighting was located in a mosque adjacent to the school.
Local authorities in Gaza City called it a “massacre”, as emergency personnel worked to locate and evacuate the injured from the rubble.
More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to health authorities in the shattered enclave, during a conflict that was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, which killed 1200 people, according to official Israeli figures. Some 250 Israelis and foreign nationals were taken to Gaza as hostages during the assault, with more than 100 remaining in captivity.
Over the past month, the Israeli military has stepped up its attacks on schools across the Gaza Strip, arguing that Hamas militants were using civilian shelters as operational hubs and the displaced people there as “human shields”.
The strike comes as the US, Egypt and Qatar made a renewed push for a deal in Gaza that would halt the fighting and return the Israeli hostages home.
The leaders of the three countries, who have been trying to mediate between Israel and Hamas for months, issued a statement which called for both sides “to resume urgent discussions in Doha or Cairo to close remaining gaps” and “commence implementation of the deal without further delay”.
A meeting was mooted for next Thursday, although its prospects remain unclear. The US and its allies view a ceasefire-for-hostage deal in Gaza as the only way to de-escalate regional hostilities.
Israel on Saturday remained on edge awaiting a likely attack from Iran and the Lebanon-based Hizbollah movement in retaliation for two recent assassinations targeting senior militant leaders. An Israeli air strike killed top Hizbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut late last month, while a few hours later, Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader, was slain in Tehran. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for Haniyeh’s assassination.
The administration of US President Joe Biden is racing to de-escalate tensions and avoid a full-blown war, while simultaneously moving additional military assets, including battleships and fighter jet squadrons, to the region in a bid to protect Israel.
In a call with Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant on Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that “escalation is in no party’s interest”.
According to a statement released by the US State Department, Blinken “reiterated the urgent need to reach a ceasefire in Gaza that would secure the release of hostages, allow a surge of humanitarian assistance, and create the conditions for broader regional stability”.
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