Israeli airstrike on Gaza school kills over 100, Hamas media office says

CAIRO: More than 100 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli attack on a school in the Gaza Strip that was sheltering displaced people, the Hamas-led Gaza government said on Saturday (10 August). The Israeli military said the airstrike targeted a Hamas command centre.

The strikes occurred as people sheltering in the school were holding dawn prayers, leading to several casualties, the Hamas press office said in a statement. Doctors had not yet been able to access all the bodies, it said.

Gaza medical authorities did not provide any immediate information.

The Israeli military said in a statement that its aircraft attacked a command and control center where Hamas fighters were hiding.

The military said it had taken steps to reduce the risk of harm to civilians, “including the use of precision munitions, aerial surveillance and intelligence information.” It had no immediate comment on reports of casualties from Gaza.

Hamas said the attack was a heinous crime and a grave escalation. Israel says the militant group is embedding itself among Gaza’s civilians, operating in schools, hospitals and designated humanitarian zones – something Hamas denies.

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attack, which came as mediators pushed for a resumption of ceasefire talks. It said the killing of civilians in Gaza showed Israel had no intention of ending the war.

Egypt, the United States and Qatar scheduled a new round of ceasefire talks for Thursday, as fears grow of a wider conflict involving Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has said he will not end the war until Hamas ceases to pose a threat to Israelis, announced that a delegation would be sent to the talks on August 15.

A Hamas official told Reuters the group was examining the new offer for talks, but did not provide details.

Israel launched its attack on Gaza after Hamas militants entered southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli estimates.

Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza since then, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between soldiers and civilians.

Health officials say most of the deaths are civilians. Israel, which has lost 329 people in Gaza, says at least a third of the Palestinian deaths were militants. Iran-backed Hamas does not publish its toll.