Photo: Eyad Baba Agence France-Presse Palestinians observe the extent of the damage after an Israeli strike on the Khadija school in the Gaza Strip.
France Media Agency in the Gaza Strip
Posted at 11:47 a.m.
- Middle East
An Israeli strike on a school in Deir al-Balah killed 30 people on Saturday and an operation in Khan Younis killed 170 Palestinians in six days, sources in the Gaza Strip said in the 10th month of the war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas after an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israel on October 7 that sparked the war.
He has just wrapped up a visit to the United States with a meeting with Donald Trump, who has warned of “major wars in the Middle East and possibly a third world war” if he does not win the presidential election in November.
Despite a heavy human toll — tens of thousands dead according to the Hamas Health Ministry — and a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, the Israeli military offensive launched in response to the October 7 attack has not let up.
“The Khadija school, which housed a makeshift medical unit in the Deir al-Balah area, was targeted [by a strike that] left 30 martyrs and more than 100 wounded,” the Hamas Health Ministry said in a statement.
The Israeli army said it had carried out an operation in this school in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, targeting the “terrorists” operating there.
Deadly operation in Khan Younes
In the south of the Palestinian territory, around 170 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds injured since the start of a new Israeli operation in Khan Younis on Monday, a spokesman for the Civil Defense, Mahmoud Bassal, told AFP.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000Nearly 182,000 Palestinians have fled Khan Younis since Monday according to the UN.
The army has expanded its operations to Khan Younis, the largest city in southern Gaza, launched after rockets were fired from the area towards Israel.
It has called on residents of several neighborhoods in the city to evacuate to Al-Mawasi, further west, an area it calls a “humanitarian zone.” But Palestinians are afraid to go there, as the area has already been targeted by Israeli bombings.
Wounded people and bodies were transported to Nasser hospital in Khan Younis after a deadly strike, some at arm's length, others in cars or on carts, according to AFP images.
In recent months, the army has returned to several areas of the Palestinian territory, from which it had claimed to have driven Hamas out.
On October 7, Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza into southern Israel carried out an attack that killed 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data. Of the 251 people abducted in the attack, 111 are still being held in Gaza, including 39 who have died, according to the army.
Its campaign of aerial bombardments and tank attacks, followed by a ground offensive, have killed at least 39,258 people, according to data from the Hamas-run Gaza government's health ministry, which does not provide details on the number of civilians and fighters killed.
Negotiations expected Sunday
The Palestinian territory, where some 2.4 million people have been under siege by Israel since October 9, is at risk of famine, according to the UN.
“I am forced to watch my child starve”: Muhannad Hadi, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Middle East, spoke to the Security Council on Friday on behalf of women and children in Gaza, describing a situation that will “haunt us all” for generations. He spoke of the plight of Palestinians he met in Deir al-Balah on July 9.
After the failure of multiple negotiations on a truce associated with the release of hostages, a meeting of representatives of the mediators – Egypt, the United States, Qatar – with the head of Israeli intelligence is planned for Sunday in Rome, according to Al-Qahera News, a media outlet close to Egyptian intelligence.
Considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union, Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007, accuses Mr. Netanyahu of blocking any agreement.
The Hostage Families Forum, which represents relatives held in Gaza, denounced on Thursday a “sabotage” of the efforts intended to obtain the release of the relatives, pointing the finger at Benjamin Netanyahu.