Hamas says Israeli airstrike on Gaza college killed 30

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said an Israeli strike Saturday on a school killed 30 people, after a days-long military operation further south left around 170 dead, according to the civil defence agency.

Since July 6 at least eight schools – including the latest one – have been hit leaving more than 100 people dead, based on a tally of tolls given by the health ministry and a hospital source.

With most of Gaza’s 2.4 million people displaced at least once during the war started by the October 7 attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel, many have sought refuge in school buildings including the one hit on Saturday.

The latest strike in the Deir el-Balah city area targeted Khadija school, the health ministry said. 

More than 100 people were wounded, it added.

Palestinians flee from a school where they has taken refuge, after it was hit by an Israeli strike, in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said an Israeli strike Saturday on a school killed 30 people

Many displaced Palestinians have been seeking refuge in school buildings, including the one struck on Saturday

Israel’s military said it carried out a strike on the school targeting ‘terrorists’ operating there.

Further south, in the Khan Yunis city area, around 170 people have been killed ‘and hundreds wounded’ during an Israeli operation over several days there, Gaza’s Civil Defence Agency said.

It issued the toll after the military earlier Saturday warned of new operations in the area and issued fresh evacuation orders for residents of Khan Yunis, where troops had earlier recovered the bodies of five Israelis.

The airstrike comes nine months into a war sparked by Hamas’s October attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.  

The militants also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still in Gaza, including 44 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 39,000 people, also mostly civilians, according to data from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

Israel’s military said it carried out a strike on the school targeting ‘terrorists’ operating there

100 people are believed to be wounded 

Further south, in the Khan Yunis city area, around 170 people have been killed ‘and hundreds wounded’ during an Israeli operation over several days there, Gaza’s Civil Defence Agency said