Death toll from Israeli attack on UN-run school in central Gaza rises to 22

By Mohamed Majid

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - The death toll from Israeli bombardment of a UN-run school sheltering displaced Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip rose to 22, the Health Ministry said on Monday.

At least 102 other people were injured in the attack that targeted the Abu Oreiban School run by the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in the Nuseirat refugee camp on Sunday, the ministry added in a statement.

According to witnesses, several children and women were among the victims.

The Israeli army acknowledged the attack, claiming that the school served as a hideout and operational infrastructure for attacks against its forces.

Sunday's school attack came one day after at least 90 people were killed and nearly 300 others injured in an Israeli strike on a "humanitarian zone" for displaced Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

Nearly 38,700 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and more than 89,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

* Writing by Mohammad Sio