At least 16 people were killed and more than 50 injured in an Israeli air strike on a school run by UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, that was sheltering displaced people in Nuseirat in central Gaza, on Saturday.
According to AFP, the Israeli military said that its aircraft was targeting militants operating around Al-Jawni school.
Israel’s military said that it had taken precautions to minimise risk to civilian lives before targeting gunmen who used the area as a hideout to carry out attacks on Israeli soldiers. However, Hamas had denied fighters being there.
Earlier in a separate air strike, paramedics reported that 10 people, including three journalists, were killed in a strike on a house in Nuseirat. The UNRWA said two of its workers were killed in a strike at Al-Bureij. Located in central Gaza, the agency has a large food warehouse.
“Absolutely no place in the Gaza Strip is safe,” said civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal, as per an AFP report.
The Gaza health ministry, in its daily update of people killed in the nine-month-old war, said that Israeli military strikes across the enclave killed at least 29 Palestinians in the past 24 hours and wounded around 100.
The fighting raged as the diplomatic efforts to halt the war continued, Israel announced on Friday that it would send its delegation next week to continue talks with Qatari mediators. In a statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesperson said that there were “gaps” with Hamas regarding the terms of securing a ceasefire and a hostage release deal.
"It was agreed that next week Israeli negotiators will travel to Doha to continue the talks," the spokesperson said.
There has been no truce since a one-week pause last November, during which 80 Israeli hostages were freed in exchange for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.