GAZA CITY: At least 25 people have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a school in Gaza, which had been serving as a shelter for people displaced by the ongoing Israeli war on the Palestinian territory, Gaza’s civil defence agency said on Thursday.
The attack targeted Dar al-Arqam School in the Al-Tuffah neighbourhood, northeast of Gaza City, on Thursday, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency.
Mahmud Bassal, a spokesman for the agency, confirmed that more than 100 others were wounded in the strike.
The overnight Israeli air raids killed at least 55 people across the Gaza Strip, hospital officials reported.
The escalation came after Israeli senior officials said that the military would seize large areas of Gaza and create a new security corridor through the Palestinian territory.
Israel has vowed to continue its military campaign in Gaza, demanding that Hamas return the remaining hostages and leave the territory.
Alongside military operations, Israel has imposed a month-long ban on all imports of food, fuel, and humanitarian aid, resulting in acute shortages of essential supplies for civilians.
The Israeli military has not immediately commented on the strike on the school but released a statement saying it had targeted a “Hamas command and control centre” in the Gaza City area.
The statement claimed the facility had been used by Hamas to plan and execute attacks against Israeli military forces.
The military also stated that it could not confirm whether the school had been specifically targeted in the airstrike.
Hamas condemned the attack, accusing the Israeli government of continuing its “targeting of innocent civilians” and contributing to what it described as a “genocide” in Gaza.
Since October 7, 2023, many displaced Palestinians have sought refuge in schools and other facilities as they flee the violence.
The Gaza Health Ministry reported that since Israel resumed large-scale airstrikes on March 18, 1,163 Palestinians have been killed, bringing the total death toll since the start of the war to 50,523.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military has ordered the evacuation of residents from several areas in Gaza, including Shujaiya, Jadida, Turkomen, and eastern Zeytoun, warning that it would apply “extreme force” in these regions.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had announced the establishment of a new security corridor across Gaza, which would reportedly cut off the southern city of Rafah from the rest of the territory.
The new corridor was named the Morag corridor, referring to a former Israeli settlement between Rafah and Khan Younis.
The move has been criticised by the Palestinian Authority, which rejected the proposal.
Netanyahu’s announcement came after Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel would seize large areas of Gaza and add them to its existing “security zones,” effectively creating a more expansive buffer zone along Gaza’s perimeter.
Hamas has insisted that it will only release the remaining 59 hostages—24 of whom are believed to be alive—in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire, and an Israeli military pullout. The Palestinian group has refused Israel’s demands for departure from Gaza.
