Israeli forces have bombed a United Nations-linked school in central Gaza where forcibly displaced Palestinians are sheltering, killing at least 40 and wounding more than 70.
Officials from Gaza’s government media office and the Health Ministry confirmed the death toll, which included 14 children and 9 women, following Thursday’s predawn strikes which hit al-Sardi school and homes in Nuseirat camp.
Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, condemned the attack on Thursday as a “horrible massacre” and said many women and children were among those killed and wounded.
The Palestinian Wafa news agency said that thousands of displaced Palestinians were sheltering at al-Sardi school, which is linked to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), when it came under attack.
Ismail al-Thawabta, a spokesman for Gaza’s government media office, said “huge numbers of dead and wounded” were arriving at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza, which had reached three times its clinical capacity.
“This horrible massacre committed by the Israeli occupation is clear evidence of genocide, ethnic cleansing against civilians, including women and children and displaced people in the Gaza Strip,” he told reporters.
The dead and wounded were overwhelming the hospital, “which is filled with wounded patients three times beyond its clinical capacity”, he added. “This portends a real disaster that will lead to an even greater increase in the number of martyrs.”
