Israeli attacks killed at least 46 in Gaza, medics who treated the wounded told on Monday. At least 31 died in a school-turned-refugee shelter on the Strip.
Israeli attacks killed at least 46 in the Gaza Strip on Monday, 31 of them in a school-turned-shelter that was hit as people slept, setting their belongings on fire, according to local health officials. The army said it was targeting militants who had been using the school.
Israel re-launched its war in March following the suspension of a ceasefire with Hamas. It has committed to taking over Gaza and continuing to fight until Hamas is eliminated or disarmed, and until it returns the last 58 hostages, a third of whom are thought to be alive, from the Oct. 7, 2023, assault that triggered the conflict.
Israel last week started permitting a trickle of humanitarian aid into Gaza after refusing to let all food, medicine, fuel or other supplies in for 2 1/2 months. Aid agencies warned of famine and state that the assistance which has entered is far from sufficient to meet growing needs.
A new aid system backed by Israel and the United States but opposed by U.N. agencies and aid groups is to start operating as early as Monday, even after the resignation of the American driving it forward, who claimed that it would not be able to function on its own.
Israel claims it will take full control of Gaza and allow what it terms voluntary migration of its more than 2 million people, something Palestinians and most of the international community have rejected. Israel’s military offensive has levelled extensive tracts of Gaza and internally displaced at least 90% of its residents. Most have fled repeatedly.
The attack on the school in Gaza City’s Daraj neighbourhood killed over 55 people and injured more than 55, said Fahmy Awad, the head of the ministry’s emergency service. A father and five of his children were among the victims, he said.
