Israeli strike on Gaza school sheltering displaced Palestinians kills 10 people


Key Points
  • An Israeli airstrike has killed 10 people at a school in Gaza.
  • Israel’s military said militants were operating within the school.
  • Israeli attacks have killed over 1,600 Palestinians since the ceasefire collapsed, according to Gaza health authorities.
An Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza has killed 10 people.
Medics said the airstrike on the Yaffa School in the Tuffah area of Gaza City set fire to tents and classrooms.
Some furniture was still in flames several hours after the strike as people sifted through blackened classrooms and the schoolyard in search of their belongings.

“We were sleeping and suddenly something exploded, we started looking and found the whole school on fire, the tents here and there were on fire, everything was on fire,” an eyewitness told Reuters.

Medics said the airstrike on the Yaffa school set fire to tents and classrooms. Source: AAP / Haitham Imad/ EPA

The Israeli military said Hamas and allied group Islamic Jihad were operating within the school and that it took precautions to reduce harm to civilians before it struck there.

Medics said at least 36 people had been killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza on Wednesday.

The Gaza health ministry said an Israeli missile hit the upper building of the Durra Children’s Hospital in Gaza City, damaging the intensive care unit and destroying the solar panel system that feeds the facility with power. No-one was killed.

A woman standing in the rubble of a building.

Displaced Palestinians inspect the damage to the Yaffa School following the Israeli airstrike. Source: AAP / Haitham Imad/ EPA

Since a January ceasefire collapsed on 18 March, Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,600 Palestinians, many of them civilians, according to the Gaza health authorities, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced as Israel of Gaza’s land.

Israel has also imposed a blockade on all goods into Gaza, including fuel and electricity, since the beginning of March.

Foreign ministers call for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza

On Wednesday, the foreign ministers of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom jointly called on Israel to adhere to international law and allow the unhindered passage of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
They also urged for the ceasefire to be restored and for the remaining hostages held by militant group Hamas to be released.

“Humanitarian aid must never be used as a political tool and Palestinian territory must not be reduced nor subjected to any demographic change,” the ministers said in a statement.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein rejected the statement, asserting that there was no shortage of aid in Gaza, even though doctors and civilians say medical supplies and food are running low.
Gaza’s healthcare system is close to collapse due to Israel’s blockade, which it says is aimed at pressuring the Hamas militants who run Gaza to release 59 remaining Israeli hostages captured in Hamas’ October 7 attack in 2023.
Hamas says it is prepared to free them , but it has rejected demands to lay down its arms.

On Wednesday, the group released an edited video of hostage Omri Miran, 48, pleading for a deal to be made.

Israeli troops to remain indefinitely in Gaza 'buffer zones', Defence Minister says image

Throughout the war, Hamas has released similar videos of hostages, which Israeli officials dismiss as psychological warfare.
Hamas’ 2023 attack killed 1,200 people and 251 hostages were taken to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, more than 51,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to health officials.
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