At least 25 people were killed in Israeli attacks on a Gaza City school, said the director of Al-Shifa Hospital where the casualties were taken.
“We received 25 martyrs from Al-Buraq School after missile and artillery strikes targeted the school this morning,” director Mohammad Abu Salmiya of Gaza’s largest hospital complex told Al Jazeera on Friday.
While the Reuters news agency reported the director as saying at least 20 Palestinians had been killed, AFP news agency put the number at about 50 people.
Video footage shared on social media showed dozens of bodies strewn across the school in the Al-Nasr neighbourhood in the aftermath of the attack. People whose homes had been destroyed were sheltering in the school.
The Israeli army has intensified its bombardment of the Gaza Strip, repeatedly targeting schools, mosques and hospitals.
Last week, an Israeli air missile struck the Al-Fakhoora School run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in the Jabalia refugee camp, killing at least 15 people and injuring 54, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
Thousands of people displaced due to Israel’s relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip had taken refuge at the Al-Fakhoora School. That was the third major attack on the Jabalia camp.
It came hours after a deadly strike on the Osama bin Zaid School sheltering displaced families in the Al-Saftawi area north of Gaza City, killing at least 20 people, according to local media.
At least 11,078 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. In Israel, the death toll stands at more than 1,400.
The Israeli strikes have damaged more than 50 percent of housing units across Gaza, according to officials. The United Nations humanitarian office said in a statement that if there is a “hell on Earth, it is northern Gaza”.
