Israeli airstrikes hit UN school and homes in Gaza and kill at least 34 people

Deir al-Balah: Israeli airstrikes across Gaza overnight and Wednesday hit a UN school sheltering displaced Palestinian families as well as two homes, killing at least 34 people, including 19 women and children, hospital officials said.

The war in Gaza is now into its 11th month, with tens of thousands of people dead, and international efforts to mediate a cease-fire between Israel and the Hamas militant group have repeatedly stalled as they accuse each other of making additional and unacceptable demands.

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli troops launched raids in several towns backed by airstrikes, continuing a crackdown across the territory that the military says is targeting militants but has wrecked neighbourhoods and killed civilians. One airstrike killed five people the military said were militants threatening its troops. A second strike on a car killed at least three people, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

An attacker crashed a fuel truck into a West Bank bus stop near the Israeli settlement of GIvat Assaf, killing an Israeli soldier, the military said. Officials said soldiers and an armed civilian “neutralised” the attacker.

The strike on the UN’s al-Jaouni Preparatory Boys School in the Nuseirat refugee camp killed at least 14, including two children and a woman, officials from Awda and al-Aqsa Martyrs hospitals said. At least 18 other people were wounded, they said.

The Israeli military said it was targeting Hamas militants planning attacks from inside the school. The claim could not be independently confirmed.

One of the children killed was the daughter of Momin Selmi, a member of Gaza’s civil defense agency, which rescues wounded and retrieves bodies after strikes, the agency said.

Gaza’s schools are packed with tens of thousands of Palestinians driven from their homes by Israeli offensives and evacuation orders. The al-Jaouni school, one of many in Gaza run by the UN agency for Palestinians, or UNWRA, has been hit by multiple strikes during the war.

Israel frequently bombs schools, saying they are being used by Hamas militants. It blames Hamas for civilian casualties from its strikes, saying its fighters base themselves and operate within dense residential neighbourhoods.

More than 90% of Gaza’s school buildings have been severely or partially damaged in strikes, and more than half the schools housing displaced people have been hit, according to a survey in July by the Education Cluster, a collection of aid groups led by UNICEF and Save the Children.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed at least 41,084 Palestinians and wounded another 95,029, the territory’s Health Ministry said. The ministry’s count does not differentiate between civilians and militants. Israel launched its campaign vowing to destroy Hamas after the Oct 7 attack on southern Israel in which militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted 250 others.

Earlier Wednesday, a strike hit a home near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, killing 11 people, including six brothers and sisters ranging from 21 months to 21 years old, according to the European Hospital, which received the casualties.

A strike late Tuesday on a home in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza killed nine people, including six women and children, according to the Health Ministry and the civil defence. The civil defence said the home belonged to Akram al-Najjar, a professor at the al-Quds Open University, who survived.

The Israeli military said two soldiers died and seven were injured when their helicopter crashed in southern Gaza as they evacuated wounded troops. It said the overnight crash was not the result of enemy fire and is under investigation. There have been 340 Israeli soldiers killed since the ground operation began in Gaza in late October, at least 50 of whom died in accidents, according to the military.

The West Bank also has seen a surge in violence. Israel has stepped up its military raids there, saying it is working to dismantle militant groups and prevent increasing militant attacks on Israelis. Palestinians say such operations are aimed at cementing Israel’s seemingly open-ended military rule over the territory. At the same time, Jewish settlers have accelerated attacks on Palestinians.

The military on Wednesday said it launched assaults around the West Bank town of Tulkarem and in two northern towns. It said it dismantled an explosives lab, a weapons manufacturing workshop and an explosives-rigged vehicle. The military said an airstrike backing troops operating in the town of Tubas killed five militants. The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed five were killed but did not specify if they were militants or civilians.

The Red Crescent said three people were killed in a strike on a car in a village outside Tulkarem. The military confirmed it carried out a strike there but had no immediate details.