Health authorities in Gaza, controlled by Hamas, say that around thirty people were killed early Thursday by the Israeli army.
An Israeli strike launched against a school-turned-shelter in central Gaza, which the army said was being used as a “Hamas compound”, killed at least 33 people, including five children, according to local health authorities. The toll could rise.
The strike came after the IDF announced it was launching new air and ground operations in central Gaza and an international medical group reported rising casualties.
Latest operations appear to mark a broadening of the Israeli offensive almost eight months after the Hamas attack launched on October 7.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah received at least 30 bodies following Israeli raids, according to hospital records and the sources of an Associated Press reporter at the hospital.
The Israeli military said its warplanes struck the school run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, known by the acronym UNRWA. The IDF claimed, without immediately providing evidence, that Hamas and Islamic Jihad were using the school as a cover for their operations.
The two strikes took place at Nuseiratone of several refugee camps built in Gaza dating from the 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes.
The Israeli military said Wednesday that forces were operating “both above and below ground” in the eastern parts of Deir al-Balah and in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.
According to Doctors Without Borders, at least 70 bodies and 300 injured, mostly women and children, were taken Tuesday and Wednesday to a hospital in central Gaza after another wave of Israeli strikes. The international charity said in a post on fractures and other traumatic injuries.
Gaza’s health system almost collapsed after almost eight months of war. The hospital, which was treating some 700 wounded and sick people before the latest strikes, said Wednesday that one of its two power generators had stopped working, threatening its ability to operate ventilators and incubators for premature babies.
Discussions on a ceasefire at a standstill
On the diplomatic side, the United States still continues to pressure Israel and Hamas to accept their proposed three-phase ceasefire agreement.
An agreement which provides for a lasting end to the fighting, the release of the last hostages, and a significant influx of aid into the Gaza Strip.
But discussions are slipping, particularly on the side of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Indeed, the most extreme members of his coalition, notably Itamar Ben-Gvir, Minister of National Security, gave him an ultimatum: if he accepts this ceasefire agreement, his government will fall.