Israel faces ire over deadly school strike

GAZA CITY — Rescuers in Gaza said an Israeli airstrike on a school compound housing displaced Palestinians killed 93 people on Saturday, sparking international condemnation despite Israel's insistence that it was targeting militants.

A video from the site showed body parts scattered among rubble and more bodies being carried away and covered by blankets. Empty food tins lay in a puddle of blood, and burned mattresses and a child's doll lay amid the debris.

The Israeli military acknowledged it targeted the Tabeen school in central Gaza City, saying it hit a Hamas command center in a mosque in its compound and killed 19 Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters. Izzat al-Rishq, a top Hamas official, denied there were militants in the school.

It was the latest of what the United Nations human rights office called "systematic attacks on schools" by Israel, with at least 21 since July 4 leaving hundreds dead, including women and children.

The bombardment drew criticism from across the Middle East and beyond alongside calls for a ceasefire, after international mediators invited the warring sides to resume talks for a long-sought truce and hostage-release deal.

"Israel is genociding the Palestinians one neighborhood at the time, one hospital at the time, one school at the time, one refugee camp at the time, one safe zone at the time," Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories, said on X.

Civil defense rescuers in the Hamas-ruled territory said three Israeli missiles hit the compound while people were performing dawn prayers. The military confirmed it had used "three precise munitions".

Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza's Civil Emergency Service, said 11 children and six women were among the 93 who died at the school shelter, "and there are many unidentified body parts".

"They dropped a missile on them while they were just praying," said one woman, mourning over a dead child shrouded in a plastic body bag.

Israel's military said it had "precisely struck" Tabeen, later adding that intelligence suggested "at least 19 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists were eliminated".

Hamas denounced it as a "dangerous escalation", while Lebanon's Hezbollah called it a "horrific massacre".

Iran condemned what it called a "barbaric attack".

"Those who were inside the mosque were all killed," said local resident Abu Wassim. "Even the floor above, where women and children were sleeping, was completely burned."

Israel has made similar accusations of armed activities after strikes on school shelters, while Hamas has denied using civilian facilities for military aims.

Jordan's Foreign Ministry said the timing was an indication of Israel's efforts to "obstruct and thwart" the latest mediation effort.

One of the mediators, Qatar, called for an "urgent international investigation", while Turkiye claimed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted "to sabotage cease-fire negotiations".

Hamas' Oct 7 attack that sparked the conflict resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,790 people, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

The European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the school strike left him "horrified".

France said "Israel must respect international humanitarian law".

"For several weeks, school buildings have been repeatedly targeted, with an intolerable number of civilian victims," the French Foreign Ministry said.

The White House said it was "deeply concerned" about the Israeli airstrike.

US military financing

Washington has faced mounting domestic and international criticism for its military support for Israel. Saturday's airstrike came a day after a State Department spokesperson said the United States will provide Israel with $3.5 billion to spend on US weapons and military equipment after Congress appropriated the funds in April.

In the southern Gaza Strip, Israel expanded evacuation orders in Khan Younis overnight on Sunday, forcing tens of thousands of Palestinian residents and displaced families to leave in the dark as explosions from tank shelling reverberated around them.

The evacuation instruction covered districts in the center, east and west, making it one of the largest such orders in the 10-month-old conflict, two days after tanks returned to the east of the city.

Later on Sunday, an Israeli airstrike near the Khan Younis market killed four Palestinians and wounded several others, medics said.

Palestinian and UN officials say there are no safe areas in the enclave. Areas designated as humanitarian zones, such as Al-Mawasi in western Khan Younis where residents were being sent, have been bombed several times by Israeli forces.

The mediators have invited the warring parties to resume talks on Thursday, after intense diplomacy aimed at averting a region-wide conflagration in recent days.

Hezbollah, which has traded near-daily fire with Israeli forces throughout the conflict, said on Saturday it had fired "squadrons of explosive-laden drones" at an army base in retaliation for the killing of a Hamas commander in southern Lebanon on Friday.

Agencies Via Xinhua