The Israeli army continued its offensive in central Gaza on Friday, claiming to have killed dozens of militants, including some who had taken refuge in the premises of a former United Nations school transformed into a shelter in the area.
The army said it targeted Hamas fighters at a school in Shati, a coastal neighborhood northwest of downtown Gaza. The number of coincidences was unclear.
“Hamas systematically, intentionally and strategically places its infrastructure and operates from civilian areas, in total violation of international law and while endangering the lives of civilians in Gaza,” the Israeli military said in a statement after the struck.
Friday’s attack came a day after a strike on a similar school complex near Nuseirat, where displaced civilians had taken refuge. Gaza health authorities said women and children were among those killed in the strike.
Israel on Friday defended Thursday’s raid, saying its forces targeted 20 to 30 militants who it said were using three classrooms at the former school as a base.
The attacks on U.N. compounds in central Gaza reflect Israel’s painstaking efforts to re-pacify areas where officials previously said Hamas had been largely suppressed.
The number and identity of those killed Nuseirat remained controversial on Thursday. Varying figures were provided by Gaza’s health ministry and officials at a hospital where the victims were taken. And an assessment by the Israeli military gave a third explanation.
Palestinian authorities gave between 41 and 46 deaths. Yasser Khattab, head of the morgue at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in nearby Deir al Balah, said 18 of the victims were children and nine were women.
The Israeli military on Friday released the names of eight more Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters it said were killed in the attack, adding to a list released Thursday bringing the total number of suspected militants at 17 so far.
Later Thursday, an Israeli airstrike on Nuseirat town hall killed at least five people, including the oldest, Iyad al-Maghari. A video shared by Palestinian media showed numerous bodies on the floor of a morgue, some of which appeared to be children.
The toll of all these attacks could not be independently confirmed.
With 36,000 people killed in Gaza in the war between Israel and Hamas, according to Gaza health officials, the United Nations announced Friday that it is including Israel on the global list of offenders who commit violations harmful to children . Hamas was also on the list.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the report, saying in a statement that the country’s military “is the most moral army in the world, and no illusory UN decision will change that.”
Israeli troops also continued their offensive on Friday in the town of Rafah, south of Gaza, where the army seized a large part of the border area with Egypt. The military said it was carrying out “targeted, intelligence-led operations,” without providing further details.
The fighting took place as U.S. officials continued to push for a ceasefire. The State Department announced Friday that Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken will travel to Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Qatar next week to promote a deal.
Since the fighting began, propelled by Hamas-led attacks on October 7, Hamas and other Palestinian militants in Gaza have used a vast maze of underground tunnels to wage guerrilla warfare, ambushing Israeli forces with booby traps. . Israeli troops have returned to previously besieged areas, such as Bureij in central Gaza, in a bid to quell what the army sees as a new Hamas insurgency.
“We see that Hamas still exists and that it still has capabilities above and below ground,” Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, told reporters Thursday, describing continued attacks by “smaller cells.” militants using rocket-propelled grenades. small arms and traps.
On Thursday, Hamas militants emerged from a tunnel located a few hundred meters from Israeli territory to try to attack the interior of the country, the Israeli army announced. Israeli drone and tank fire targeted the militants and killed three of them, according to the army. An Israeli soldier was also killed in the shooting.
Since the Israeli military offensive in Rafah, the number of trucks carrying desperately needed international aid has declined – despite a slight increase in the number of commercial trucks – amid a humanitarian crisis that aid workers say remains serious.
The US military announced Friday that it had attached a pier to the Gaza coast intended to transport humanitarian shipments to the enclave. The $230 million floating pier, which U.S. officials hailed as part of a solution to deliver more aid to the hunger-stricken territory, broke apart in rough seas more than a year ago. ‘one week.
Farnaz Fassihi And Michael Crowley reports contributed.
