Israeli warplanes bomb house near UNRWA school, causing casualties

By Ahmed Gouda

ISTANBUL (AA) - A number of Palestinians were killed late Wednesday by an Israeli airstrike on a house close to a school sheltering displaced people in the southern the Gaza Strip.

Israeli warplanes struck a home near Ahmed Abdelaziz School run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the Khan Younis refugee camp, the official Wafa news agency reported.

Wafa said at least nine Palestinians were killed, including seven children, in the Israeli airstrike on the home of the Al-Bakri family.

It added there are family members still under the rubble.

In the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, a toddler was killed and other people sustained injuries from an Israeli airstrike on the camp.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that Israeli raids on residential buildings in Rafah city south of Gaza left at least 20 Palestinians dead.

The conflict began on Oct. 7 when the Palestinian group Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, a multi-pronged surprise attack that included a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by land, sea and air. It said the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque and growing violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.

The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire to ease the “epic human suffering.”

At least 3,478 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza, while more than 1,400 Israelis have been killed since the start of the operation.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar