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Israel hit a Gaza school on Thursday with what it described as a targeted airstrike on Hamas fighters who had sheltered inside a United Nations site, with a top official saying at least 35 people had been killed.
Ismail Al-Thawabta, the director of the Hamas-run government media office, rejected Israel’s claims that the UN school in Nuseirat, in central Gaza, had hidden a Hamas command post.
“The occupation uses … false fabricated stories to justify the brutal crime it conducted against dozens of displaced people,” Thawabta told Reuters.
Israel’s military said it had taken steps to protect civilians before its fighter jets carried out a “precise strike,” circulating satellite photos highlighting two parts of a building where it said the fighters were based.
“We’re very confident in the intelligence,” military spokesperson Lt.-Col. Peter Lerner told a briefing with reporters, accusing Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters of deliberately using UN facilities as operational bases.
He said 20-30 fighters were located in the compound, and many of them had been killed, but had no precise details as intelligence assessments were being carried out.
“I’m not aware of any civilian casualties and I’d be very, very cautious of accepting anything that Hamas puts out,” he said.
The school, run by the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), was sheltering 6,000 displaced people at the time, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said.
“At least 35 people were killed and many more injured,” he wrote on X. “Claims that armed groups may have been inside the shelter are shocking. We are however unable to verify these claims. Attacking, targeting or using UN buildings for military purposes are a blatant disregard of International Humanitarian law.”
Media in Hamas-run Gaza had earlier put the toll at 35 to 40 people.
As people at the school cleared rubble from bloodstained classrooms, survivor Huda Abu Dhaher described waking up to the sound of rockets.
“People’s remains were scattered inside the yard and outside. The gas canister exploded,” she told Reuters.
“My nephew was martyred [killed], he lost his leg and arm, he was a 10-year-old … This woman’s leg got a fragment in it, her son bled from his mouth and leg, her mother-in-law sustained three injuries.”
Blow to ceasefire proposal
In an apparent blow to a truce proposal touted last week by U.S. President Joe Biden, the leader of Hamas on Wednesday said the group would demand a permanent end to the war in Gaza and Israeli withdrawal as part of a ceasefire plan.
The remarks by Ismail Haniyeh appeared to deliver the Palestinian militant group’s reply to the proposal that Biden unveiled last week. Washington had said it was waiting to hear an answer from Hamas to what Biden described as an Israeli initiative.
“The movement and factions of the resistance will deal seriously and positively with any agreement that is based on a comprehensive ending of the aggression and the complete withdrawal and prisoners swap,” Haniyeh said.
Asked whether Haniyeh’s remarks amounted to the group’s reply to Biden, a senior Hamas official replied to a text message from Reuters with a “thumbs up” emoji.
Since a brief week-long truce in November, all attempts to arrange a ceasefire have failed, with Hamas insisting on its demand for a permanent end to the conflict, while Israel says it is prepared to discuss only temporary pauses until the militant group is defeated.
U.S. President Joe Biden is backing an apparent Israeli proposal that could end its war with Hamas. The three-phase plan also calls for the release of all hostages, and rebuilding Gaza.
Canada was among several nations to join in a statement Thursday calling for “the leaders of Israel as well as Hamas to make whatever final compromises are necessary to close this deal.”
“There is no time to lose,” the statement read. “We call on Hamas to close this agreement, that Israel is ready to move forward with, and begin the process of releasing our citizens.”
The signatories included Spain, which separately on Thursday became the first European country to ask a United Nations court for permission to join South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.
Talks with regional mediators ongoing
Although Biden described the ceasefire proposal as an Israeli offer, Israel’s government has been lukewarm in public. A top Netanyahu aide confirmed on Sunday that Israel had made the proposal even though it was “not a good deal.”
Far-right members of Netanyahu’s government have pledged to quit if he agrees to a peace deal that leaves Hamas in place, a move that could force a new election and end the political career of Israel’s longest-serving leader.
Washington is still pressing hard to reach an agreement. CIA director William Burns met senior officials from mediators Qatar and Egypt on Wednesday in Doha to discuss the ceasefire proposal.
Palestinians who sought safety in the southern Gaza city of Rafah were on the move again on Tuesday, as they faced more Israeli strikes and dire humanitarian conditions.
Hamas-led militants abducted some 250 people when they stormed over the border into Israel on Oct. 7 last year, killing around 1,200 people, according to Israeli government tallies. About 120 people remain unaccounted for.
Over 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s air and land war since then in Gaza, according to health officials there, and much of the densely populated enclave lies in ruins.
Hamas has seen about half its forces wiped out in eight months of fighting and is relying on insurgent tactics to frustrate Israel’s attempts to take control of Gaza, U.S. and Israeli officials told Reuters.
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Hamas has been reduced to between 9,000 and 12,000 fighters, according to three senior U.S. officials familiar with battlefield developments, down from American estimates of 20,000 to 25,000 before the conflict. Israel says it has lost almost 300 troops in the Gaza campaign.
Meanwhile, a conflict between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah is threatening to escalate, with the U.S. State Department warning against a full-blown war.
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