Israeli strike on Gaza school kills at least 14 – health officials

Video of the aftermath of Wednesday’s air strike showed hundreds of people inspecting the heavily damaged ground floor of one wing of al-Jaouni school, as well as the remains of an adjoining structure that appeared to have been destroyed.

Other footage showed ambulances bringing wounded men, women and children said to have been wounded in the strike to al-Aqsa hospital in the town of Deir al-Balah.

A medical source at al-Awda hospital in Nuseirat camp told the AFP news agency that nine people killed in the strike had been brought there, and that six others were taken to al-Aqsa hospital.

The Associated Press cited hospital officials as saying that al-Awda had received 10 bodies and al-Aqsa another four, and that they included one woman and two children.

Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal also put the death toll at 14.

In a post on Telegram, the agency identified one of those killed as the daughter of one of its rescue workers, Momin Salmi. It said he had not seen Shadia for 10 months because he had stayed in northern Gaza while his wife and their eight children had fled southwards.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that aircraft had “conducted a precise strike on terrorists who were operating inside a Hamas command and control centre” embedded inside al-Jaouni school.

“Numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence,” it added.

“This is a further example of the Hamas terrorist organisation’s systematic abuse of civilian infrastructure in violation of international law.”

Gaza’s Hamas-run government media office said about 5,000 people were sheltering at the school at the time of the strike and accused Israel of a “brutal massacre”.

There was no immediate comment from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), which ran al-Jaouni school before the war.

The UN said it condemned “all air strikes that target civilians and those that also target UN facilities”.

“Our policy is clear – UN premises should never be targeted, nor should UN premises be used by any groups or any force from which to launch military activities,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

Unrwa has said that almost 70% of its schools in Gaza have been hit over the past 11 months. Many have been severely damaged, the organisation says.

The agency has also reported that at least 563 displaced people have been killed and 1,790 others injured while sheltering inside its schools and other installations.

Earlier on Wednesday, the IDF announced that two Israeli soldiers had been killed and eight others injured in a helicopter crash overnight in southern Gaza.

The helicopter was on a mission to evacuate a critically injured soldier to a hospital for medical treatment and crashed while landing in the Rafah area, a statement said.

“An initial inquiry conducted indicates that the crash was not caused by enemy fire. The cause of the crash is still under investigation,” it added.