Israel blitzes ‘Hamas compound’ hidden in UN SCHOOL in ‘precise airstrike’ with Gaza claiming 39 ‘martyrs’ killed
ISRAEL targeted a UN school in Gaza today that it claims was home to a Hamas base, allegedly killing terrorists involved in the October 7 attack.
Hamas-run media in the war-torn Strip said the blitz killed at least 39 Palestinians seeking shelter in the school.
Local health officials said five children were also killed, Sky reports.
The IDF said that "many measures were taken in order to minimise the danger of damaging the uninvolved" when striking the alleged "Hamas compound".
Israel's fighter jets hit the top floor of the school run by a United Nations agency providing aid to Palestinians in Gaza, the UNRWA.
It comes after Israel accused staff working for the UNRWA of being involved in the October 7 massacre.
The Hamas-run media office said Israel had committed a "horrific massacre" after the blitz - which hit the Nuseirat refugee camp in the centre of the Strip.
Director Ismail Al-Thawabta said the school was not hiding a Hamas command post.
He claimed the reports of a Hamas compound coming from Israel were used to "justify the brutal crime it conducted against dozens of displaced people".
Horrific pictures showed the blitzed school, reduced to rubble as people in UN vests picked through the wreckage.
And haunting images from the ground showed Palestinians mourning those killed in the strike as they lay in body bags on the ground.
A Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry spokesperson told CNN 45 people were killed in the strike.
The IDF has yet to provide any evidence suggesting the school was used as a Hamas HQ.
They claimed this morning: "Before the strike, a number of steps were taken to reduce the risk of harming uninvolved civilians during the strike, including conducting aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence information."
The UN began investigations into accusations that some of its staff in the UNRWA were involved in the massacre of 1,200 Israelis last October.
David Bedein, of Israel’s Centre for Near East Policy, claimed in January that relief agency staff were “involved in actual murder — wielding guns and killing people”.
Twelve Gaza-based staff were sacked but Mr Bedein said they are just the “tip of the iceberg”.
In late April UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said several of the 12 cases into the 12 members of staff were closed due to lack of evidence from Israel.
The UN-funded agency was created to boost Palestinian education, health care, social services and living standards.
Israel's military confirmed the hit this morning on X, writing: "Eliminated: several Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who embedded themselves inside of an UNRWA school.
"IAF fighter jets conducted a precise strike on a Hamas compound embedded inside the school in the area of Nuseirat.
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"These terrorists belonged to the Nukhba Forces and participated in the Oct. 7 massacre.
"Before the strike, a number of steps were taken to reduce the risk of harming uninvolved civilians during the strike, including conducting aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence information."
