More than 100 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli strike on a Gaza school sheltering displaced people, the territory’s government said on Saturday.
The strikes hit when people sheltering at the school were performing dawn prayers, leading to many casualties, the media office said in a statement. Medics had not yet been able to reach all the bodies, it said.
There was no immediate information from Gaza health authorities.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said the death toll from the latest Israeli strike had risen to more than 90.
AFP could not independently verify the toll which, if confirmed, would appear to be one of the largest from a single strike during more than 10 months of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza against Hamas.
Video from the site showed body parts scattered on the ground and more bodies being carried away and covered in blankets on the floor. Empty food tins lay in a puddle of blood and burnt mattresses and a child’s doll among the debris.
“So far, there are more than 93 martyrs, including 11 children and six women. There are unidentified remains,” said the spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defence, Mahmoud Bassal, in a televised news conference.
The Israeli military said in a statement that its air force targeted a command and control centre where Hamas fighters were allegedly hiding.
Hamas said the strike was a horrific crime and a serious escalation.
Saturday’s incident brings to at least 14 the number of schools struck in Gaza since July 6, killing more than 280 according to an AFP tally of tolls previously given by officials in the territory.
AFPTV live images from the scene showed a large complex with a courtyard where debris lay inside and out. Part of the structure appeared to be a mosque, the upper story of which was partially blown out and charred.
Images showed white-shrouded bodies, blood stains on the ground, and smoke rising from the rubble.
Around 6,000 people had been sheltering at the compound, he said. The Gaza health ministry has so far not provided casualty details.
