Israel-Gaza: Hamas urges mediators to implement Biden truce plan

On Sunday, the Israeli military ordered thousands of Palestinians in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, to relocate to what it has designated “humanitarian zones”.

The relocation order followed an Israeli air strike against a school building in Gaza on Saturday, which killed more than 70 people according to a local hospital director.

Fadl Naeem, head of al-Ahli Hospital where many of the casualties were taken, said around 70 victims were identified in the hours after the strike – with the remains of many others so badly disfigured that identification was difficult.

A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the school “served as an active Hamas and Islamic Jihad military facility”, which Hamas denies.

IDF spokesman Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said “various intelligence indications” suggest a “high probability” that the commander of Islamic Jihad’s Central Camps Brigade, Ashraf Juda, was at al-Taba’een school school when it was struck.

He said it is not yet clear whether the commander was killed in the attack.

The BBC cannot independently verify casualty figures from either side.

Israel claims that Hamas is using civilian infrastructure to plan and carry out attacks, and that is why it has been targeting hospitals and schools – sites protected under international law.

Hamas has consistently denied the accusations.