Israeli strikes kill 16 at school housing displaced Gazans, health officials say

Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for the Gaza Civil Emergency Service, said the number of dead could rise because many of the wounded were in critical condition.

The attack on the school meant no place in the enclave was safe for families who leave their houses to seek shelters, he said in a statement.

Al-Nuseirat, one of Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee camps, was the site of stepped-up Israeli bombardment on Saturday. An air strike earlier on a house in the camp killed at least 10 people and wounded many others, according to medical workers.

In its daily update of people killed in the nearly nine-month-old war, the Gaza health ministry said Israeli military strikes across the enclave killed at least 29 Palestinians in the past 24 hours and wounded 100 others.

Among those killed in separate air strikes were five local journalists, raising the toll of journalists killed since October 7 to 158, according to the Hamas-led Gaza government media office.

Gaza health authorities say more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive. Israel launched its operation, aimed at eliminating the militant Islamist group Hamas, in response to a Hamas-led assault on Israel on October 7 in which 1,200 people were killed and over 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Israeli forces, which have deepened their incursions into Rafah, in the south of the enclave near the border with Egypt, killed four Palestinian policemen and wounded eight others, in an air strike on their vehicle on Saturday, health officials said.

A statement issued by the Hamas-run interior ministry said the four included Fares Abdel-Al, the head of the police force in western Rafah neighbourhood of Tel Al-Sultan.

The Israeli military said forces continued “intelligence-base operations” in Rafah, destroyed several underground structures, seized weapons and equipment, and killed several Palestinian gunmen.

Israel has said its operations in Rafah aim to eradicate the last Hamas armed wing battalions.

The Israeli military said it eliminated a Hamas rocket cell in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza that operated from inside a humanitarian-designated area. It said it carried out a precise strike after taking measures to ensure civilians were unharmed.

Hamas denies Israeli accusations that it uses civilian properties and facilities for military purposes.

The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said fighters attacked Israeli forces in several areas of Gaza with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs.