Indus Valley Times

NEW DELHI, AUG 10 : Over 100 people were killed and dozens of others were injured in an Israeli strike that targeted a school housing displaced people in eastern Gaza, Reuters reported, citing official Palestinian news agency WAFA on Saturday. The strike occurred as people were performing prayers, according to the Hamas-run Gaza government media office.

“The Israeli strikes targeted the displaced people while performing Fajr (dawn) prayers, a matter that led to a rapid increase in the number of casualties,” the office said in a statement.

In a statement, the Israeli army said its air forces “struck command and control centre that served as a hideout for Hamas terrorists and commanders”.

“The IAF (Israeli Air Force) precisely struck Hamas terrorists operating within a Hamas command and control centre embedded in the Al-Taba’een school and located adjacent to a mosque in Daraj Tuffah, which serves as a shelter for the residents of Gaza City,” it said.

“Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and intelligence information,” it added.

The fresh strikes came after four schools across Gaza were attacked in the previous week.

On August 4, two schools serving as shelters for displaced people in Gaza City were hit by an Israeli strike, killing 30 and injuring several others. The previous day, an Israeli strike on Hamama School in Gaza City killed 17.

On August 1, 15 people died after an Israeli strike hit Dalal al-Mughrabi School.

Israel has been conducting strikes on buildings, including schools, across Gaza, asserting that there are “terrorists” inside the premises operating from “Hamas command control centres” since launching a full-scale military offensive against the Palestinian outfit last October.

More than 40,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza in the 10-month-long war that was triggered after Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel on October 7 last year, killing some 1,200 people and taking 250 others as hostages.

Several rounds of talks have been held for a ceasefire in the war-ravaged coastal Palestinian enclave, but no breakthrough has been achieved so far.

-PTI