Israel bombed a United Nations-run school housing displaced Palestinians, killing at least nine people, officials and residents said.
The attack on the Asma school in Shati refugee camp in Gaza City also injured several people, the Gaza Civil Defense said on Sunday, as rescuers searched for more victims under the rubble .
Taher al-Rantisi said he “saw a plane destroy the building, which collapsed on people”, calling the attack a “massacre”.
Among the Palestinians sheltering in the school building were “innocent children and elderly people,” Rantisi said. When the strike broke out, “all the people and all the children were torn apart,” he said.
Civil Defense said six bodies had been identified, including that of a young girl.
The Israeli military said it was “investigating” the reported airstrike, the latest such attack on shelters for displaced people in the Gaza Strip, where the army says it is targeting Hamas fighters.
Paramedic Hussein Mohsen said the displaced Palestinians who took refuge in the UN school came from Jabalia and other areas of northern Gaza, where Israeli forces imposed a devastating siege for a fourth week.
“This is not the first time that the Israeli occupation has targeted schools,” Mohsen said.
In recent months, Israeli forces have bombed several schools-turned-shelters, claiming Palestinian fighters were operating there. Israel has not presented any evidence to support its claims.
In recent days, tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled Israeli bombardments in northern areas of the besieged Gaza Strip. The Israeli army says it wants to prevent Hamas from regrouping there.
But Palestinians and rights groups say Israel is carrying out genocide in Gaza. Israeli forces have killed nearly 43,000 people as the assault on Gaza enters its second year.
