UPDATE 2 – Over 100 Palestinians killed as Israeli army intensifies attacks across Gaza

UPDATES DEATH TOLL, CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK

By Ikram Kouachi and Mohammad Sio

ANKARA / ISTANBUL (AA) – At least 102 Palestinians were killed in a new wave of deadly Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, as Israel escalated its genocidal war on civilians in the enclave, medics said.

In northern and central Gaza, eight Palestinians were killed in airstrikes, four of them in a civilian gathering on Yaffa Street in eastern Gaza City, and four others in the central Bureij refugee camp.

In one of the deadliest attacks, Israeli warplanes bombed the Mustafa Hafiz School in central Gaza City, killing 17 Palestinians, who had sought shelter there, medics said.

The strike caused massive destruction and a fire, with victims’ bodies arriving at the hospital badly burned.

Three more Palestinians succumbed to wounds from earlier strikes.

A drone strike on a civilian group near Halawa Roundabout in Jabalia killed two and wounded three. Another Palestinian was killed near a care center in the same town.

In addition, Israeli artillery shelling killed three in western Beit Lahia in central Gaza.

A body was recovered from the rubble of a bombed school in the Zarquaa area of Al-Tuffah neighborhood in Gaza City. A woman was killed and others were injured in a strike on a family home in the city’s Al-Daraj neighborhood.

Drone strikes also killed three and injured others in separate attacks in Al-Zeitoun and Al-Tuffah neighborhoods.

Earlier at dawn, 30 Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid were killed and dozens injured in airstrikes on crowds near Al-Nabulsi Roundabout and the Netzarim Corridor south of Gaza City.

In southern Gaza, seven Palestinians were killed and 30 injured in a strike on aid seekers north of Al-Shakoush in Rafah.

Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis received 26 bodies, including seven aid seekers from an attack in the Al-Tahlia area south of the city.

Despite international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, killing more than 57,100 Palestinians, most of them women and children, since October 2023.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his 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 war on the enclave.