Israel bombs Gaza school, says it was targeting Hamas

An Israeli attack on a school in Gaza has left at least 30 killed and over 100 injured, authorities in the Hamas-run enclave said on Saturday. They said the school was serving as provisional shelter and housing displaced Palestinians.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it attacked the area of the school as it was targeting a "camouflaged Hamas command and control compound."

What do we know about the attack?

The shelling targeted the Khadija school west of Gaza's Deir al-Balah area, Gaza's Civil Defense service said on Saturday.

The IDF said the attack killed "Hamas terrorists who were hiding and operating from the compound." It added that the targeted location was used for weapons storage.

The Israeli military claimed to have taken many steps to reduce the chance of harming civilians.

Meanwhile, the media office of the Hamas-run government put the death toll at 18, saying three Israeli fighter jets shelled a makeshift hospital inside the school.

The Gaza government said the hospital "offered medical services to dozens of sick and injured people who are all civilians."

EU, Ireland condemn strike

The European Union's foreign affairs chief reacted to the deadly Israeli strike on a Gaza school, calling for a "political solution" to end the "madness" in the enclave.

"Yet another attack on a school used as a shelter for internal displaced people in Khan Younis," said the EU's Josep Borrell. "At the same time, an already very fragile population is asked to relocate again and again, with no end in sight."

In another post, Borrell wrote: "[The] cease-fire has to happen now. International Humanitarian Law has to be respected. Humanitarian assistance to civilians needs to be delivered at scale. Only a political solution will end this madness."

Meanwhile, Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris referred to Israel's latest school strike as "a further demonstration of brutal, unconscionable violence."

 "Targeting an area populated with displaced families is inhumane and despicable," he said, adding his voice to the calls for a cease-fire.

Israel asks Palestinians to leave humanitarian zone

Meanwhile in southern Gaza, the IDF asked Palestinian civilians to evacuate parts of the Khan Younis area, including the humanitarian zone there, as it prepares to "forcefully operate" in the region.

The IDF said staying in the area has become dangerous, citing "significant terrorist activity and rocket fire toward the State of Israel from the southern area of Khan Younis." It accused Hamas of embedding "terrorist infrastructure" in the humanitarian zone there.

The Israeli military said it has made an early warning to civilians "to mitigate harm to the civilian population." It called on the civilians to "temporarily evacuate" to the al-Mawasi humanitarian zone, saying it has reached out using flyers, media broadcasts, phone calls and text and voice messages.

During the past nine months of war, many Palestinians have been uprooted several times as Israel operates in different parts of the enclave, which is home to 2.3 million Palestinians. 

The fighting started after Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 and taking some 250 hostages. Around 115 are still in Gaza, though Israel says a third of them are believed to be dead. Meanwhile, over 39,100 Palestinians have thus far been killed in the fighting, health authorities in the Hamas-run strip say.

Hamas is designated as a terrorist group by Israel, the US, the European Union, among others.

rmt/dj (AP, Reuters)