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UNRWA says death toll from Israeli strike on Nuseirat school expected to rise
GAZA,Palestine/BBC,Reuters/ -An Israeli air strike on a UN school sheltering displaced Palestinians in central Gaza has reportedly resulted in the deaths of at least 65 people.
Local journalists informed the BBC that a warplane launched two missiles at classrooms located on the top floor of the school within the urban Nuseirat refugee camp. Videos from the scene showed extensive destruction and numerous bodies.
The Israeli military stated that it had “conducted a precise strike on a Hamas compound” within the school, claiming that many of the 20 to 30 fighters it believed were inside had been killed.
Contrarily, Gaza’s Hamas-run Government Media Office refuted the military’s claim, accusing Israel of perpetrating a “horrific massacre.”
Juliette Touma, director of communications for the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, has told Reuters that the number of those reported killed in the Israeli attack on a school administered by the organisation in Nuseirat refugee camp school is at least 65, and could climb as high as 80.
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which operates the school, condemned the incident as “horrific,” and expressed shock at the assertion that armed groups might have been present in the shelter.
Casualties were swiftly transported to the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah. The hospital has been overwhelmed since the Israeli military initiated a new ground operation against Hamas in central Gaza earlier this week.
