Israeli forces bombed a United Nations-linked school in central Gaza, killing at least 32 displaced Palestinians and wounding dozens more, according to officials and local media.
Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, condemned the pre-dawn attack on Thursday as a “horrific massacre” and said the dead and wounded included many women and children.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa put the death toll at 32.
The agency said thousands of displaced Palestinians were taking shelter at the al-Sardi school in Nuseirat camp, linked to the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), when it was attacked.
Ismail al-Thawabta, spokesman for the Gaza Government Media Office, said “an enormous number of dead and wounded” were arriving at Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza.
“This horrific massacre committed by the Israeli occupation is clear evidence of genocide and ethnic cleansing against civilians, including women and children, and displaced people in the Gaza Strip,” he told reporters.
The dead and wounded overwhelmed the hospital, “which is filled with injured patients three times its clinical capacity,” he added. “This portends a real disaster that will lead to an even greater increase in the number of martyrs.”
'Apocalyptic' violence
Israel's military confirmed the bombing and said its warplanes struck a “Hamas compound embedded inside a UNRWA school in the Nuseirat area.” He claimed that the bombing “eliminated terrorists who were planning to carry out attacks” against his forces.
Hamas rejected the Israeli statement.
“The occupation uses lies to the public through false and fabricated stories to justify the brutal crime it carried out against dozens of displaced people,” al-Thawabta told Reuters news agency.
The attack on al-Sardi comes as Israeli forces intensified their bombing of Gaza and the United States pressed ahead with its efforts to secure a ceasefire agreement.
Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said that before the latest attack on Nuseirat, Israeli forces had killed at least 102 people in 24 hours. These included attacks on the Bureij and Maghazi refugee camps, also located in central Gaza.
Doctors Without Borders, in a statement on Wednesday, described the situation in Gaza as “apocalyptic.” The group, known by its French acronym MSF, said Al-Aqsa Hospital had received 70 dead and more than 300 wounded since Tuesday, and that most of the victims were women and children.
“The smell of blood in the hospital emergency room this morning was unbearable. There are people lying everywhere, on the ground, outside… they were bringing bodies in plastic bags. The situation is overwhelming,” said Karin Huster, an MSF official.
He said the “crazy escalation of violence” in the Gaza Strip and the closure of the Rafah border crossing, which has halted most humanitarian deliveries to the Palestinian enclave, has pushed the health system to the “point of collapse.”
“This man-made catastrophe must stop now,” he added.
At least 36,586 Palestinians have been killed and 83,074 wounded in Israel's eight-month war against Gaza. The brutal attack, which some countries and UN experts say amounts to genocide, began after Hamas fighters launched attacks inside Israel on October 7 last year, killing at least 1,139 people and taking dozens more captive.
Ceasefire talks
Efforts to end the war have so far made little progress.
William Burns, director of the CIA, was in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on Wednesday to discuss a three-phase truce proposal touted last week by US President Joe Biden. The first phase calls for a six-week ceasefire, during which Hamas would release some of the captives and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza's population centers and continue negotiations for a permanent truce.
Regional and international powers have supported the proposal, but conflicting points persist. Hamas has insisted on a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops.
Israel, however, has rejected those demands, saying it is willing to discuss only temporary pauses until Hamas is defeated.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh reiterated the group's stance on Wednesday.
“The movement and resistance factions will seriously and positively approach any agreement that is based on a comprehensive end to aggression and complete withdrawal and exchange of prisoners,” he said.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said fighting would not stop as negotiations over the proposed ceasefire continued.
“Any negotiations with Hamas would take place only under fire,” Gallant said as he flew aboard a plane to inspect the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
