Palestinians carry their children as they flee after an Israeli attack on a school housing displaced Palestinians in the Rimal area of central Gaza City on August 20, 2024. Photo credit: AFP
At least 12 people were killed on Tuesday (August 20, 2024) in an Israeli attack on a school where militants had taken refuge, Gaza’s civil defense agency said, while the Israeli military said it struck a Hamas command center.
“Our teams evacuated 12 martyrs from the Mustafa Hafiz School, which was bombed by the Israeli occupation, west of Gaza city,” agency spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said. AFP.
He said that thousands of displaced Palestinians have taken refuge in this school amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said the school was targeted because it housed a command and control center.
“Hamas terrorists used the command-and-control center to plan and carry out attacks against IDF (Israeli army) soldiers and the State of Israel,” the army said in a statement.
He said he carried out a precision attack on the terrorists active inside the school.
Basal had earlier said that seven people were killed and 15 injured in the attack. He said the attack took place on the second floor of the school building.
The latest death toll could not be independently confirmed.
AFP Images showed the school reduced to rubble, and scores of Palestinian men and women, many carrying children, fleeing the scene after the attack.
In recent weeks, the Israeli military has attacked several schools in Gaza, mainly in Gaza City, accusing them of being Hamas command centers, which the Islamist group denies.
Earlier this month, the army attacked the al-Tabini school in Gaza City, killing 93 Palestinians according to the civil defense agency, while the army said 31 militants were killed.
Thousands of displaced people have taken refuge in schools since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7 after Palestinian militants attacked southern Israel.
The attack killed 1,199 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on Israeli official figures.
The militants also took 251 people captive, 105 of whom are still being held in Gaza, 34 of whom the military says are dead.
At least 40,173 people have been killed in Gaza in Israel’s retaliatory military offensive against Hamas, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, though the ministry did not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.
According to the United Nations Human Rights Office, most of those killed in Gaza were women and children.