At least 28 killed in new Israeli strike on school sheltering displaced Gazans

By Hosnia Nadim

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – At least 28 Palestinians were killed and dozens injured in a new Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced civilians in the central Gaza Strip on Thursday, the Health Ministry said.

Around 54 other people were injured in the attack that targeted Rufaida School in Deir al-Balah city, the ministry added in a statement.

“The occupation army was aware that thousands of displaced children and women who had been uprooted from their homes have sheltered in this school,” Gaza’s government media office said.

According to the media office, some 190 shelters have been bombed by the Israeli army since the outbreak of the Israeli war on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023.

“This new crime comes at a time when the health situation in central Gaza, where more than one million people live, is already difficult,” it added.

Israel has systematically targeted civilian facilities, including schools, hospitals, and places of worship, amid its ongoing offensive on the Gaza Strip.

Under the rules of war, targeting such civilian facilities can constitute a war crime.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last year, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

More than 42,000 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 97,900 others injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala