Middle East: Gaza reports school strike, 100 feared dead

World Saturday 10/August/2024 09:22 AM
By: DW
Middle East: Gaza reports school strike, 100 feared dead

Authorities in Gaza said an Israeli strike on a Gaza City school being used as a shelter for displaced people killed dozens early on Saturday.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported between 90 and 100 dead, and Gaza civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told the AFP news agency that the death toll was between 90 and 100.

The civil defense agency spoke of a "horrific massacre" and said some bodies caught fire.

Bassal said three Israeli rockets hit the facility in Daraj in eastern Gaza City.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), meanwhile, said it had struck "terrorists operating within a Hamas command and control center embedded within" a school.

The IDF accused Hamas of "systematically" using civilians "as a human shield for terrorist activity." It also claimed that it had taken several steps to try to limit the possibility of civilian casualties.