(Scypre.com) – An Israeli airstrike targeting a school compound in Gaza City, which was sheltering displaced Palestinian families, resulted in the deaths of approximately 100 people, according to the Gaza Civil Emergency Service. The strike occurred on Saturday during dawn prayers, hitting both the upper floor where families were residing and the lower floor, which was being used as a mosque.
Video footage from the scene depicted harrowing images of body parts scattered among the debris, with bodies covered in blankets and blood-stained remains of food tins, burnt mattresses, and a child’s doll.
The Gaza Civil Emergency Service, alongside the Hamas-run government media office, provided casualty figures, stating that among the dead were 11 children and six women. “So far, there are more than 93 martyrs,” Palestinian civil defense spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal reported in a televised press conference, emphasizing that unidentified remains were still being accounted for. Around 350 families had taken refuge in the compound, part of the larger population of Palestinians displaced by the ongoing conflict.
However, the Israeli military disputed these casualty numbers, asserting that the death toll had been inflated. They claimed that the strike, carried out with precision munitions, could not have caused the extent of damage reported. The military provided aerial photos and videos, which they claimed supported their assertion that the compound did not suffer severe damage. According to Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, the targeted mosque within the compound was an active military facility used by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and the strike focused on the section reserved for men.
Israel has consistently accused Palestinian militants of embedding themselves among civilians in Gaza, operating from within schools, hospitals, and other humanitarian zones, a claim that Hamas and its allies deny. Hamas condemned the strike as a “horrific crime” and a significant escalation in the conflict, with Izzat El-Reshiq of Hamas’s political office asserting that none of the deceased were combatants.
In addition to the school compound strike, other Israeli airstrikes on Saturday resulted in the deaths of several Palestinians in different areas of Gaza. Three Palestinians were killed in Al-Nuseirat, one person in Deir Al-Balah, and another three in Rafah near the Egyptian border. The Israeli military also announced the assassination of Walid Alsousi, the head of general security in Hamas’s military wing, in southern Gaza. Hamas has yet to comment on this assassination.
The conflict’s impact extended beyond Gaza, with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah armed group in Lebanon launching a drone attack against Israeli military positions in northern Israel.
The international community reacted strongly to the strike on the Gaza City school compound. The White House expressed “deep concern” and reached out to Israeli officials for further details. European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell voiced his horror at the images from the site, while France and Britain issued condemnations. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s spokesperson, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, called on the United States to end its “blind support” of Israel, which he argued was contributing to the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians.
Condemnation also came from regional powers, including Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri indicated that the strike should serve as a pivotal moment in the push for renewed ceasefire talks. Although Hamas is considering a new proposal for discussion, details remain sparse.
Egypt described the strike as evidence that Israel has no intention of ending the war, while Qatar’s foreign ministry labeled it a “horrific massacre.” Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya, speaking to Al-Jazeera, urged a more decisive international response, including the expulsion of Israeli ambassadors and the severance of diplomatic ties.
Amidst growing fears of a broader conflict, particularly involving Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah, a new round of ceasefire negotiations has been scheduled by Egypt, the United States, and Qatar for Thursday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has pledged to continue the war until Hamas no longer poses a threat to Israel, confirmed that Israel would send a delegation to these talks.
The current conflict erupted on October 7, when Hamas fighters launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and capturing over 250 hostages. Since then, the Israeli offensive on Gaza has claimed nearly 40,000 Palestinian lives, according to the health ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between combatants and civilians.
Israel contends that at least a third of the fatalities are militants, while its own military has lost 329 soldiers in the conflict. Hamas, however, has not released its casualty figures.