Many schools in Gaza have been targeted by the Israeli army in recent months.
Civil Defense announced in Gaza Strip At least seven people were killed Sunday in an air strike on a school housing displaced people in Gaza City, in what the Israeli military said was targeting Hamas fighters.
The war has displaced the Strip’s 2.4 million people at least once due to the ongoing war since October 7, and many have taken refuge in schools as safe buildings.
“Seven martyrs and a number of wounded, including serious cases, as a result of Israeli shelling of Kafr Qasim School, which houses hundreds of displaced people in Al-Shati camp, west of Gaza City,” said Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for the Civil Defense in the Gaza Strip.
For its part, the Israeli army said it targeted Palestinian militants operating from the school.
The military said its forces took steps to “mitigate the risk of harm to uninvolved civilians,” noting the use of “precision munitions” and surveillance.
He said in statement His forces “carried out a precision strike on Hamas terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip” who were “operating in a compound,” referring to the school building, the statement said. The statement did not provide further details on the casualties.
Several schools in Gaza have been targeted in recent months by the Israeli military, which accuses Hamas of hiding its fighters in school buildings where thousands of Gaza residents have fled, a claim the Palestinian movement denies.
On Saturday, 21 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Al-Zeitoun School, which houses displaced people, while the Israeli army said it targeted fighters.
On September 11, the shelling of the UN-run Al-Jaouni School in the central Gaza Strip sparked an angry response from the international community after UNRWA announced that six of its staff were among the 18 killed.
The war in the Strip broke out on October 7, with Hamas launching an attack that killed 1,205 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data. The figure includes hostages who died while being held captive in the Gaza Strip.
During the attack, 251 people were kidnapped, 97 of whom are still being held, including 33 who the army says were killed.
Israel responded with a devastating bombing campaign and ground assault on the Strip, killing at least 41,431 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The United Nations says most of the dead were women and children.
