GAZA CITY: Israeli strikes killed at least 46 people in the Gaza Strip on Monday, including 31 in a school-turned-shelter that was struck as people slept, igniting their belongings, according to local health officials.
Israel renewed its offensive in March after ending a ceasefire with Hamas. It has vowed to seize control of Gaza and keep fighting until Hamas is destroyed or disarmed, and until it returns the remaining 58 hostages, a third of them believed to be alive, from the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war.
Israel began allowing a trickle of humanitarian aid into Gaza last week after blocking all food, medicine, fuel or other goods from entering for 2 1/2 months. Aid groups have warned of famine and say the aid that has come in is nowhere near enough to meeting mounting needs.
A new aid system supported by Israel and the United States but rejected by UN agencies and aid groups is expected to begin operations as soon as Monday, despite the resignation of the American leading the effort, who said it would not be able to operate independently.
Israel says it plans to seize full control of Gaza and facilitate what it describes as the voluntary migration of its over 2 million population, a plan rejected by Palestinians and much of the international community.
Israel’s military campaign has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and internally displaced some 90% of its population. Many have fled multiple times.
The strike on the school in the Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City also wounded more than 55 people, said Fahmy Awad, head of the ministry’s emergency service. He said a father and his five children were among the dead.
He said the school was hit three times while people slept, setting their belongings ablaze. Footage circulating online showed rescuers struggling to extinguish fires and recovering charred remains.
The military said it targeted a militant command and control center inside the school that Hamas and Islamic Jihad used to gather intelligence for attacks. Israel blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it operates in residential areas.
A separate strike on a home killed 15 members of the same family, including five women and two children, according to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, which received the bodies.
Agencies
‘Israeli strikes kill 46 in Gaza, including 31 in school-turned shelter’
