An Israeli air strike on a UN school packed with hundreds of displaced people in central Gaza has killed at least 27 people, local officials say.
Israel’s military said it “conducted a precise strike on a Hamas compound embedded inside” the school.
The Hamas media office has accused Israel of committing a “horrific massacre”.
Ambulances and rescue teams have been rushing the wounded and dead to a nearby hospital.
Footage on social media showed destroyed classrooms and bodies wrapped in shrouds at a morgue.
“Enough war! We have been displaced dozens of times. They killed our children while they were sleeping,” a woman injured in the attack screamed in one video.
Director of the Hamas media office, Ismail al-Thawabta rejected Israel’s claims that the UN school had hidden a Hamas command post.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said jets had conducted a “precise strike on a Hamas compound embedded inside an Unrwa school in the area of Nuseirat”.
It said it had killed Hamas and Islamic Jihad “terrorists” who took part in the 7 October attack on southern Israel, when around 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
The IDF said it had taken steps before the air strike to “reduce the risk of harming uninvolved civilians”.
Earlier, the Israeli military said it had taken “operational control” over eastern areas of Bureij refugee camp and the town of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, as dozens of Palestinians were reported killed.
Residents reported intense bombardment and the charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said at least 70 bodies – the majority women and children – had been brought to a local hospital since Tuesday.
At least 36,580 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
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