By Hosni Nedim and Ramzi Mahmud
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Several people were killed in Israeli airstrikes that targeted a school-turned shelter and civilians in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, a medical source and witnesses said.
Witnesses said Israeli jets struck Abu Hussein School, where hundreds of civilians have sheltered in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
A medical source said several people were killed and injured in the attack, without giving an exact figure.
The Israeli strike caused a large part of the school building to collapse, witnesses said.
Four people were also killed in Israeli shelling targeting a group of civilians near al-Halabi Roundabout in Jabalia, the medical source said.
Several Palestinians were reported killed and injured in Israeli strikes near Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern town of Beit Lahia.
For weeks, the hospital and its surrounding area have been under Israeli army fire amid an ongoing military offensive in the area.
Services at the hospital, the only operational facility in northern Gaza, have been severely disrupted due to the lack of water and oxygen supplies.
On Friday, Gaza’s Health Ministry issued an urgent appeal to the international community and humanitarian organizations to intervene to stop the Israeli attacks on hospitals in the enclave.
Since Oct. 5, Israel has launched a large-scale ground operation in northern Gaza to allegedly prevent the Palestinian resistance group Hamas from regrouping. Palestinians, however, accuse Israel of seeking to occupy the area and forcibly displace its residents.
Since then, almost no humanitarian aid, including food, medicine, and fuel, has been allowed into the area, leaving most of the population there – currently estimated at 80,000 – on the verge of famine.
More than 3,500 people have since been killed in northern Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities.
The assault was the latest episode in a genocidal war launched by Israel on Gaza since a Hamas attack last year, killing more than 44,700 people, mostly women and children.
Last month, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its deadly war on Gaza.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio