After the death toll rose to 27, confirmed by Hamas’s media office, the Israeli army admitted to striking a school belonging to UNRWA in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.
In a statement today, it declared that it “carried out a deadly airstrike on a UNRWA school in central Gaza that housed a Hamas complex,” as it claimed.
It further stated, “Fighter jets executed a precise strike targeting a Hamas-affiliated complex inside a UNRWA school in the Nuseirat area,” confirming “the elimination of several militants.”
It also pointed out that fighters from “Hamas and Islamic Jihad, who belong to elite forces and participated in the October 7th attack, were active in this complex,” alleging that they “exploited and used that school as a shelter.”
“A Horrific Massacre”
In contrast, Hamas accused the Israeli forces of committing “a horrific massacre.” The movement’s media office confirmed the killing of at least 27 people and the injury of dozens in the strike, noting that the wounded were transferred to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Meanwhile, reports later indicated an increase in the death toll to 39, according to local media.
This came after the mentioned hospital reported a malfunction in the power generator earlier in the night, warning that this could lead to complications in providing treatment to the injured and patients.
Prior to the Israeli strike, the hospital had received at least 70 dead and over 300 injured since Tuesday, most of them women and children, following the Israeli airstrikes on central Gaza, according to Médecins Sans Frontières.
Israel had resumed and intensified its strikes on the central and northern parts of the devastated Palestinian territory recently, despite ongoing international warnings of continued fighting, with no safe areas to shelter civilians.
It is worth noting that this escalation on the ground comes as efforts by mediators (Qatar, Egypt, and the United States) continue to push the Israeli side and Hamas towards reaching an agreement to cease fire in Gaza and lead to a prisoner exchange deal between the two parties.
