Around 30 other people were injured as Palestinians were forced to evacuate Khan Younis again.
Israeli strikes on two schools in Gaza killed at least 15 Palestinians and wounded 30 others, as new evacuation orders were issued to residents of several districts east of the city of Khan Younis.
Many Palestinians remained trapped under the rubble of the schools – Abdel Fattah Hamoud and al-Zahraa – housing Palestinian families in the Tuffah district of Gaza City, Tel Aviv Tribune’s Hind Khoudary reported on Thursday.
Palestinian journalist Ibrahim al-Khalili told Tel Aviv Tribune that two missiles had directly hit the destroyed al-Zahraa school. He added that civil defense teams had not yet been able to rescue survivors trapped under the school due to a lack of tools.
“The situation is catastrophic,” he said.
The Israeli military said schools in Gaza City housed Hamas command centers.
“The school premises were used by terrorists and Hamas commanders… from where they planned and carried out attacks,” the army said in a statement.
According to Khoudary, reporting from al-Mawasi in Khan Younis, over the past two weeks, Israeli forces have targeted at least eight schools in the Gaza Strip.
“Palestinians were taking refuge there and seeking refuge… (Israeli forces) targeted these schools without prior notice, without any warning, and that is why dozens of Palestinians were killed in these airstrikes,” she said.
At least 39,699 Palestinians have been killed and 91,722 injured Israel’s War on Gazawhich displaced nearly the entire population of 2.3 million people from the besieged enclave amid widespread famine and spreading disease.
An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel in the Hamas attacks on October 7, and more than 200 were taken prisoner.
“A state of panic”
Meanwhile, the Israeli military also renewed evacuation orders on Thursday for Palestinian residents of several districts in eastern Khan Younis, saying it would act forcefully against fighters who had launched rockets from those areas.
The military issued the evacuation order on X, and residents reported receiving text and audio messages.
This is the second time in a month that thousands of Palestinians have been forced to flee Khan Younis under Israeli bombardment.
Residents said families had begun leaving their homes and heading west toward al-Mawasi, an area designated for humanitarian purposes but overcrowded with displaced families from around the enclave.
“People want a place where there is access to water, where there is no waste. Here, there is a huge pile of garbage right next to our house, and that is why few people set up their tents here,” Khoudary said.
She added that there is “a state of panic among Palestinians” who have been ordered to evacuate because they “have nowhere to go, everywhere is crowded.”
“These people returned home a few days ago, despite another warning issued to them in recent weeks, urging them to evacuate. The same area is currently being evacuated,” Khoudary said.
“These same families – children, parents with all their belongings – were scattered in the streets for weeks because they had nowhere to evacuate when Israeli forces warned them.”