The latest Israeli airstrikes on Gaza hit a UN school sheltering displaced Palestinian families and two homes, killing at least 34 people, hospital officials reported.
A UN spokesman said six staff members were among the dead. A strike on the UN’s al-Jaouni Preparatory Boys School in the Nuseirat refugee camp killed at least 14 people, including two children and a woman, hospital officials at Awda and al-Aqsa Martyrs said. At least 18 others were injured, they added.
The Gaza war entered its 11th month, killing tens of thousands of people, with international efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas repeatedly stalled. The warring parties accused each other of making additional and unacceptable demands.
Gaza schools are filled with tens of thousands of Palestinians driven from their homes by Israeli offensives and evacuation orders. The school in al-Jaouni, one of many in Gaza run by the UN agency for Palestinians, or UNWRA, suffered multiple strikes during the war.
UNRWA reported that six staff members assisting the displaced, including the manager of the shelter, were killed, according to the agency’s director, Philippe Lazzarini.
Humanitarian staff, premises & operations have been blatantly & unabatedly disregarded since the beginning of the war.
The Israeli offensive in Gaza killed at least 41,084 Palestinians and injured another 95,029, the local health ministry reported. Israel launched its campaign by pledging to destroy Hamas after an attack on southern Israel on 7 October in which militants killed about 1,200 people and took another 250 hostages.
