GAZA CITY, Palestine: Israeli shelling struck a school being used as a shelter in Gaza City, killing at least five Palestinians, Gaza’s civil defence agency said, as international mediators gathered in the United States to discuss the next phase of a fragile ceasefire.
Mahmud Bassal, a spokesman for Gaza’s civil defence, cited by AFP, said five bodies were recovered from the Gaza Martyrs School in the Tuffah neighbourhood, east of Gaza City.
The school was housing displaced Palestinian families at the time of the strike. Several other people were wounded, he added.
Local sources, cited by Al Jazeera, said that Israeli tank shells hit the second floor of the school while families were gathered there for a wedding ceremony.
The Israeli military, cited by AFP, said its forces had identified “a number of suspicious individuals” during operations near the yellow line in northern Gaza. Under the US-brokered ceasefire, Israeli troops withdrew to positions east of this line.
Ceasefire under strain
The truce violation came as senior officials from Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye travelled to the United States for talks aimed at advancing the next stage of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which came into effect in October.
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, was scheduled to meet the mediators in Florida on Friday.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday said that discussions were under way with representatives from Qatar, Turkiye, and Egypt and said he might join later.
Rubio said Washington’s immediate priority was completing the first phase of the truce.
This includes forming a Palestinian technocratic committee to help govern Gaza, establishing a foreign-led “Board of Peace”, and deploying an international policing force.
“No one is arguing that the status quo is sustainable in the long term,” Rubio told reporters. “That’s why we have a sense of urgency about bringing phase one to its full completion.”
Hamas demands mediators to halt Israeli violations
Hamas accused Israel of repeatedly violating the ceasefire and demanded firm guarantees from the talks in the US.
“Our people expect these talks to result in an agreement to put an end to ongoing Israeli lawlessness and compel the occupation to abide by the Sharm El-Sheikh agreement,” Hamas political bureau member Basem Naim told AFP.
Naim said discussions should also focus on increasing humanitarian aid deliveries, reopening the Rafah crossing with Egypt in both directions, and laying the groundwork for reconstruction and Palestinian self-governance.
Meanwhile, Israel has also accused Hamas of breaching the truce. The Israeli military says three of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire began.
Rising death toll
Gaza’s health ministry said on Thursday that at least 395 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire came into force on October 10. It said 1,088 others had been wounded during the same period.
The ministry added that the overall death toll from Israel’s military campaign in Gaza since October 2023 had reached 70,669, with 171,165 people injured.
Israel has continued military operations across the Palestinian territory despite the truce, according to Palestinian officials and international media reports.
Earlier on Friday, Israeli forces carried out air strikes, artillery shelling and heavy gunfire in eastern Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, according to an Al Jazeera.
Shelling also hit Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis, inside the Yellow Line area from which Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw under the ceasefire.
Al-Aqsa TV reported that Israeli artillery fire in eastern Khan Younis killed at least three Palestinians, including a woman.
