At least 13 people have been killed and more than 70 were injured in an Israeli air strike on a United Nations-run school in a refugee camp in the centre of the Gaza Strip, Gazan officials say.
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The attack on Sunday targeted the Abu Arban School in the Nuseirat refugee camp, where hundreds of displaced people had sought refuge.
More than 70 injured people were transported to Al Awda Hospital from the attacked school.
The Israeli Defence Forces claimed they had targeted "a number of terrorists operating" in the school, supported by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
"The building was used by terrorists as a hiding place and as an active operational centre from which they planned and carried out terrorist activities against our forces," the military added.
Videos broadcast on Palestinian channels showed hundreds of people running through the schoolyard, some carrying wounded individuals, while dozens of civilians dug through the rubble to rescue those trapped, including children.
The IDF asserted that "steps were taken to minimise civilian casualties" prior to the attack.
A UNRWA spokesperson said in a statement that they had no information about any militant presence inside the school.
Since the conflict began on October 7, at least 550 people have died in UN-run schools and centres.
Additionally, 197 UN workers have died, and 188 of its facilities have been damaged in Israeli attacks over the past nine months, according to UN reports.
The attack follows a particularly violent day, during which at least 141 people were killed and around 400 injured on Saturday in the Strip, according to the Hamas-run Gazan health ministry.
The majority of the casualties occurred in two major attacks on the Mawasi humanitarian zone in the south and the Shati refugee camp in the north of the Strip late on Saturday.
The attack in Mawasi, which Israel claimed targeted senior Hamas military commanders, left at least 90 dead and over 300 injured, Gazan officials said.
The IDF said that the air strike targeted top Hamas commanders, including the group's military-wing chief Mohammad Deif and its Khan Yunis brigade commander Rafa Salama.
The IDF later confirmed that Salama, one of Deif's closest associates, was killed in the air strike but did not provide details on Deif's fate.
The IDF described the strike as precise, targeting a Hamas complex in an open area surrounded by trees and buildings, not the tent complex in the humanitarian area.
In the Shati refugee camp, at least 20 people were killed after the IDF allegedly targeted a mosque where dozens had gathered for prayers, according to Palestinian media.
A senior Hamas official said on Sunday that the Islamist group has not withdrawn from ceasefire talks with Israel after this weekend's deadly attacks in Gaza.
Izzat El-Reshiq, a member of the political office of Hamas, accused Israel of trying to derail efforts by Arab mediators and the United States to reach a ceasefire deal by stepping up its attacks in the enclave.
Since the conflict began, at least 38,597 people have died and 88,950 have been injured, with an estimated 10,000 people still missing, presumed dead under the rubble of destroyed buildings, according to the Gazan officials.
with Reuters
Australian Associated Press
