The Israel Defense Forces struck a school and a mosque sheltering displaced people in Gaza because they believed a Hamas command and control center was “embedded” in the building.
Local officials said at least 93 Palestinians have been killed. The Washington Examiner was not able to verify these numbers independently. People were performing dawn prayers at the Al-Tabi’in compound in the Al-Daraj neighborhood in the eastern part of Gaza City when it was hit overnight into Saturday.
“We recovered at least 90 people who had been killed,” Gaza Civil Defense Spokesperson Mahmoud Basal told CNN, adding that “many of them are torn apart, many are still unidentified.”
The IDF said “numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and intelligence information,” before the airstrike.
After CNN asked the IDF for evidence supporting its claim the compound harbored a command and control center, it said it had intelligence saying about 20 Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters operated from the building. The IDF also disputed the death toll given by Gazan authorities.
Photos from the scene show debris and rubble strewn about with what appears to be blood in certain parts of the images. People at the scene describe torn body parts lying on the ground.
Basal said many of the dead were yet to be identified and others transferred to hospital are seriously injured.
“There are still large quantities of body parts and torn bodies inside Al-Ahli hospital,” he said. “Families are having a hard time identifying their children.” Palestinian officials told the outlet that the IDF gave no warning before the strike.
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According to CNN, Saturday’s strike is the fifth on a school in Gaza by the Israeli military since last Sunday. One woman, known as Um Ahmed, told CNN that she could not find her husband in the aftermath of the strike.
“I went to look for my husband and I didn’t see anybody, they were all in pieces,” she said.