An Israeli strike early on Thursday, June 6, on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in central Gaza killed more than 30 people, including 23 women and children, according to local health officials. The Israeli military said Hamas militants were operating from within the school.
Witnesses and hospital officials said the predawn strike hit the al-Sardi School, run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees known by the acronym UNRWA. The school was filled with Palestinians who had fled Israeli offensives and bombardment in northern Gaza, they said.
Footage showed bodies wrapped in blankets or plastic bags being laid out in lines in the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which was largely dark as staff tried to conserve limited fuel for electricity.
The hospital, the nearby town of Deir al-Balah, received at least 37 dead from the strike, including 14 children and nine women, according to Agence France-Presse, who received the tally from the hospital.
The strike came after the military announced a new ground and air assault in several refugee camps in central Gaza, pursuing Hamas militants it says have regrouped there. It's the latest instance of troops sweeping back into sections of the Gaza Strip they have previously invaded, underscoring the resilience of the militant group despite Israel's nearly eight-month onslaught in the territory.
The Israeli military said Hamas had embedded a "compound" within the school and that Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants inside were using it as a shelter where they were planning attacks against Israeli troops, though it did not immediately offer evidence. It released a photo of the school, pointing to classrooms on the second and third floor where it claimed militants were located. It said it took steps before the strike "to reduce the risk of harming uninvolved civilians... including conducting aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence information."