JERUSALEM/GAZA — Israeli forces intensified their assault on Gaza, striking approximately 50 sites since early Wednesday, Israeli authorities said.
In a joint statement, the Israeli Shin Bet domestic security agency and the military reported that the airstrikes targeted militants, weapons storage facilities, underground infrastructure, anti-tank fire positions, and Hamas military structures.
Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Civil Defense Authority in Gaza, reported that the authority had retrieved the bodies of seven people and rescued dozens of wounded individuals after Israeli aircraft targeted the Al-Farabi School with at least one missile. The school, located in the Yarmouk area west of Gaza City, was housing displaced people.
The Israeli statement confirmed the strike, stating that it targeted a militant “holding a central position” who was hiding in the building, which they described as “a command and control center” for attacks on Israeli forces in Gaza.
Hussam Al-Daqran, spokesperson for Al-Aqsa Hospital, said 15 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed in Israeli airstrikes targeting two houses in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
Three Palestinians were also killed in an Israeli airstrike on a residential house in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Al-Daqran added.
Meanwhile, Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat camp reported in a press release that six people were killed and five others injured in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the camp.
In the southern Gazan city of Rafah, Israeli aircraft targeted a house and two gatherings, according to local sources. Paramedics told Xinhua that medical teams recovered nine bodies, including a fetus and children, while several wounded individuals were transferred to a local hospital for treatment.
The airstrikes occurred as Qatari, Egyptian, and American mediators held talks with Israeli and Hamas officials in Doha to finalize a ceasefire-for-hostage agreement. The proposed deal aims to end more than 15 months of a deadly Israeli onslaught that has killed over 46,700 Palestinians and devastated Gaza, while securing the release of approximately 100 hostages held in the enclave.
XINHUA