Israel Airstrikes on School Sheltering in Gaza Kill 16 Civilians

Gaza, MINA – Israeli forces on Saturday evening carried out two more airstrikes on the same school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza City that were targeted an hour earlier, bringing the total death toll to 16, with scores of others injured, Anadolu Agency reports.

The Palestinian Civil Defense said in a statement that the new bombing on Hamama School in Sheikh Radwan neighborhood killed six more displaced people and injured scores more, some of them being in “serious” condition.

According to the statement, Civil Defense teams are having difficulty retrieving more victims due to the renewed bombing.

Following the first airstrike, Israeli aircraft bombed the same school and its surroundings with three missiles.

In an earlier statement on Telegram, the Civil Defense stated, “Some 10 Palestinians were martyred and several others were injured by Israeli occupation (forces) warplanes that targeted a school sheltering displaced people in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in northern Gaza City.”

Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital received “several martyrs and wounded, including children, as a result of an Israeli airstrike that targeted Hamama School,” sources in the health facility said.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that the bombing destroyed several classrooms at the school, which was overcrowded with displaced Palestinians.

The Israeli military admitted in a statement that it attacked the school in northern Gaza, claiming that Hamas was using it as a “weapons storage.”

However, Hamas rejected the Israeli army’s claim, describing it as “blatant lies,” and questioned the justification for targeting the schools used by displaced Palestinians as shelter. (T/RE1/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)