UPDATE - 16 killed as Israeli airstrike targets school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza

UPDATES WITH INCREASE IN DEATH TOLL, CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK

By Mohammed Majed and Mohammed Al Ragawi

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Several Palestinians were killed and injured Saturday in an Israeli bombing on a school housing displaced people in the Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, sources and witnesses said.​​​​​​​

"The (Israeli) occupation committed a heinous massacre against displaced citizens by targeting a school sheltering displaced people in Al-Nusairat. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital received 16 martyrs and 50 injuries as a result of the targeting,” the Gaza Health Ministry said in a statement.

Earlier, the Gaza civil defense told Anadolu that the attack on al-Jaouni school resulted in “more than 10 martyrs, including dismembered bodies.”

A number of bodies and wounded were brought to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah, and Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza, eyewitnesses told Anadolu.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. Besides killing more than 38,000 Palestinians since then, the military campaign has turned much of the enclave of 2.3 million people into ruins, leaving most civilians homeless and at risk of famine.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala