Israeli airstrikes kill 20 in central Gaza just hours after school-turned-shelter hit
Israeli airstrikes have killed 20 Palestinians in central Gaza, including six children and three women, some of whom were in the IDF's "safe zone", hospital authorities said.
It marks the second night of deadly attacks in Deir al-Balah and nearby refugee camps as US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators push for a ceasefire and hostage release.
Israeli military officials have said that intelligence shows militants from Hamas and a smaller Islamic Jihad group are regrouping in central Gaza City.
This has led Hamas to warn that further raids in Gaza City could destabilise any negotiations and effectively end hopes of a ceasefire and hostage-release deal.
Earlier strikes in central Gaza killed at least 14 people - including a woman and four children, according to two hospitals.
It also comes just hours after an Israeli airstrike killed at least 31 people and injured dozens more at a school-turned-shelter near Khan Younis in Gaza.
It is the fourth attack on or near schools sheltering displaced people in the past four days, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Officials said in a statement that Israel targeted "the gate of a school housing displaced people in the town of Abasan," calling it "a heinous massacre".
An additional 53 people were injured in the missile strike, some of which are now "serious and critical cases".
Hospital spokesperson Weam Fares said the dead included at least seven women and children and that the death toll was likely to rise.
Israeli officials have repeatedly hit what it has called militant targets across Gaza since the war began nine months ago.
The military has blamed civilian deaths on Hamas due to the fighting being confined to dense, urban areas.
But, the army has rarely commented on individual strikes, which have often killed women and children.
The Israeli army said the airstrike near the school and reports of civilian casualties were under review, and claimed the strike targeted a Hamas militant who took part in the October 7 attack on Israel.
The Israel Defence Force (IDF) said: “Earlier this evening, using precise munition, the IAF struck a terrorist from Hamas’ military wing who took part, among other terrorist activities, in the October 7 brutal massacre carried out by the Hamas terrorist organisation in southern Israel.
“The IDF is looking into the reports that civilians were harmed, adjacent to the Al-Awda School in the south of Khan Younis, which is located near the location of the strike. The incident is under review”.
In the past nine months, Israeli troops have occupied at least eight hospitals. Only 13 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are functioning, and those only partially, according to the United Nations’ humanitarian office.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed or wounded more than 5% of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry.
Israel has rejected any deal that would force it to end the war with Hamas intact.
Hamas has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “putting more obstacles in the way of negotiations," including the operations in Gaza City.
Israel - Hamas war: Human cost of the conflict
Hamas’ cross-border raid on October 7 killed 1,200 people in southern Israel, most of them civilians, according to Israeli authorities.
The militants took roughly 250 people hostage. About 120 are still in captivity, with about a third said to be dead.
Israel's bombardment and offensives in Gaza have killed more than 38,200 people and wounded more than 88,000, according to the territory's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.
The war has caused massive devastation across the besieged territory and displaced most of its 2.3 million people. Almost half a million people across Gaza are facing severe levels of food insecurity.
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