UPDATE – 40 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike on UNRWA school in central Gaza Strip

UPDATES DEATH TOLL, EDITS THROUGH

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) – The death toll from an Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering thousands of displaced civilians in the central Gaza Strip has risen to 40, according to Palestinian authorities on Thursday.

The victims included 14 children and nine women in the attack on a school run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in the Nuseirat refugee camp Wednesday night, Gaza’s government media office said in a statement.

Some 74 displaced civilians were also injured, including 23 children and 18 women, it added.

According to the media office, at least 149 shelters were attacked by Israeli forces in Gaza since last October.

The Israeli army "brutally committed these massacres despite its knowledge of the presence of tens of thousands in displacement centers,” it added.

The Israeli army, for its part, admitted hitting the UNRWA school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, claiming Hamas fighters were hiding inside.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

Nearly 36,600 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority being women and children, and over 83,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Eight months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in its latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.