11 killed in Israeli strike on school, Gaza officials say

The UN says most of dead are women and children. The school, sheltering displaced people, had a Hamas police outpost, a Gaza official said

Reading Time:2 minutes

People carry the body of a victim recovered from the rubble following an Israeli strike which reportedly targeted a school in the Zeitoun district on the outskirts of Gaza City on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Published: 3:03am, 2 Sep 2024Updated: 9:38am, 2 Sep 2024

Gaza health officials said an Israeli air strike targeting a group of policemen in a school sheltering displaced Palestinians killed at least 11 people on Sunday, while the military said it had struck a Hamas command centre.

“Eleven people, including a woman and girl, were killed when an Israeli air strike struck the Safad school in Gaza City sheltering displaced people,” civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told Agence France-Presse, adding several people were also wounded.

The school had a Hamas police outpost, another Gaza health official said on condition of anonymity.

A man takes cover behind a column as an explosion creates smoke and dust during an Israeli strike targeting a school on the outskirts of Gaza City on Sunday. Photo: AFP

The Israeli military said its air force had struck a Hamas command centre in the Safad school.

“The IAF struck Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control centre embedded inside the area that previously served as the Safad school in Gaza City,” the military said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Israeli police said on Sunday that a reservist soldier who went “on a mission” to shoot someone of “Arab origin” was arrested after firing at a victim in Jerusalem.

A police statement said the incident took place “on a Friday night” last month, without specifying the date, when the 34-year-old suspect left home “with the weapon he held as part of his reserve service”.