Israeli strike on Gaza school allegedly kills 31 Palestinians, many kids, but

Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip — Israeli airstrikes killed at least 100 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including 31 or more who were sheltering at a school, according to medics in the Hamas-ruled enclave, in a stepped-up offensive that Israel’s military says is intended to pressure Hamas to free hostages and eventually expel the militant group. The bodies of 14 children and five women were recovered from the school in the Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City, and the death toll could rise because some of the 70 wounded sustained critical injuries, said Health Ministry spokesman Zaher al-Wahidi. 

The Civil Defense rescue agency in Gaza said Friday that at least 31 people were killed in the strike on the school, with around 100 others injured. More than 30 other Gaza residents were killed in strikes on homes in the nearby neighborhood of Shijaiyah, al-Wahidi said, citing records at Ahli Hospital.

The Israeli military said it struck a “Hamas command and control center” in the Gaza City area, and that it took steps to lessen harm to civilians. Israel gave the same reason — striking Hamas militants in a “command and control center” — for attacking a United Nations building used as a shelter a day earlier, killing at least 17 people.

Hamas, which had long been designated a terrorist organization by Israel and the U.S. even before it carried out the brutal Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, called the strike on the school a “heinous massacre” of innocent civilians.

Israel has long accused Hamas of hiding weapons and fighters in and around civilian infrastructure, but the Israel Defense Forces provided no immediate evidence to back up its claim that Hamas commanders were present in the Gaza school or the U.N. building it bombed this week.

The strikes came as Israel’s military ordered more residents in parts of northern Gaza to evacuate west and south to shelters, warning that it planned to “work with extreme force in your area.” A number of the Palestinians fleeing the targeted areas did so on foot, with some carrying their belongings on their backs and others using donkey carts.

“My wife and I have been walking for three hours covering only one kilometer,” said Mohammad Ermana, 72. The couple, clasping hands, each walked with a cane. “I’m searching for shelters every hour now, not every day,” he said.

Israel has issued sweeping evacuation orders for parts of northern Gaza ahead of expected expansions in its ground operations. The U.N. humanitarian office said around 280,000 Palestinians have been displaced since Israel abruptly ended a ceasefire with Hamas last month that had been brokered by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar.

The fresh evacuation orders came a day after senior government officials said Israel would seize large parts of the Palestinian territory and establish a new security corridor across it. Israel has imposed a monthlong blockade on food, fuel and humanitarian aid on Gaza that has left civilians facing acute shortages as supplies dwindle — a tactic that rights groups say is a war crime. Israel says it is intended to pressure Hamas to release hostages and disarm.

Hamas has said it will only release the remaining 59 hostages — 24 of whom are believed to be alive — in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The group has rejected demands that it lay down its arms or leave the territory.

Overnight strikes by Israel killed at least 55 people in the Gaza Strip, hospital officials said Thursday.

In the southern city of Khan Younis, officials said the bodies of 14 people had been taken to Nasser Hospital – nine of them from the same family. The dead included five children and four women. The bodies of another 19 people, including five children aged between 1 and 7 years and a pregnant woman, were taken to the European hospital near Khan Younis, hospital officials said. In Gaza City, 21 bodies were taken…