The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza reported that an Israeli strike on a school killed 30 people on Saturday, following a military operation further south that left around 170 dead, according to emergency services.
The latest strike, which Israel claimed targeted “terrorists,” marked at least the eighth time since July 6 that a school has been hit, resulting in over 100 deaths, based on figures from the health ministry and a hospital source. With most of Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million residents displaced at least once during the war initiated by Hamas’s October 7 attack, many sought refuge in school buildings, including the one hit on Saturday.
The health ministry reported “30 martyrs and more than 100 wounded” in the strike on Khadija school in the central Deir el-Balah area. Israel’s military stated that Palestinian militants were using the compound as a “hiding place.”
In the Khan Yunis city area further south, around 170 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in an Israeli operation since Monday, according to Gaza’s civil defense agency. This toll was issued after the military warned of new operations in the Khan Yunis area, where troops had earlier recovered the bodies of five Israelis killed during the October 7 attack and held in Gaza since.
Egyptian state-linked media reported that Egyptian, Qatari, and US mediators are scheduled to meet with Israeli negotiators in Rome on Sunday in the latest effort to broker a Gaza truce, which critics of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accuse him of blocking.
Aid effort ‘destabilized’
Israel had warned on Monday that its forces would “forcefully operate” in the Khan Yunis area. On Saturday, the military ordered residents from more parts of Khan Yunis to “temporarily evacuate to the adjusted humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi” — the second such change to the declared safe zone within a week.
The United Nations reported that by Thursday, more than 180,000 Palestinians had already fled the fierce fighting there.
Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the civil defense agency, told AFP that many people had been displaced again on Saturday as the Israeli operation continued. He highlighted that large parts of Khan Yunis are “not suitable for living” and that civilians are struggling to find safety with “no other options available.” He asked, “Where will these residents go?”
The UN reported that evacuation orders and “intensified hostilities” have “significantly destabilized aid operations,” resulting in “dire water, hygiene, and sanitation conditions” in the Palestinian territory.
Khan Yunis, which was devastated by heavy fighting earlier in the year, saw the military withdraw in April after declaring its mission there “concluded.” However, the military has now returned in force, with troops carrying out an operation in Khan Yunis on Wednesday and retrieving five bodies.
Israel stated on Friday that its forces had “eliminated approximately 100” militants in Khan Yunis during the week.
Rome Talks
The October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,258 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilian and militant deaths. The latest toll on Saturday included 83 deaths over the previous 48 hours. In the southern city of Rafah, medics reported that four people were killed in an air strike on a house. Israel’s military stated that troops had targeted “military infrastructure sites” in the Rafah area.
Al-Qahera News, linked to Egyptian intelligence, reported on Friday that talks “to reach agreement on a truce in Gaza” would take place in Rome on Sunday. US media outlet Axios separately reported that CIA Director Bill Burns was expected to attend. The latest mediation efforts have focused on a ceasefire and hostage release, accompanied by the freeing of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
In a meeting in Washington on Thursday, US President Joe Biden urged Netanyahu to “finalize” a deal and “reach a durable end to the war in Gaza,” according to the White House.
