logo
Israeli strikes kill 15 in Gaza school housing displaced families, medics say

Israeli strikes kill 15 in Gaza school housing displaced families, medics say

Al Arabiya07-05-2025

Israeli strikes on a school housing displaced families in northern Gaza killed 15 Palestinians on Wednesday, local health authorities said, as Israeli forces continued to demolish homes and buildings in Rafah in the south of the enclave.
Medics said two strikes targeted the Karama School in Tuffah, a suburb of Gaza City. Among those killed was a local journalist, Nour Abdu, Palestinian media said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army.
Two Israeli airstrikes on another school, housing displaced people in Bureij camp in central Gaza, killed at least 33 people, including women and children, on Tuesday, local health authorities said. The Israeli military said it struck 'terrorists' operating from a command center in the compound.
The strike, which smashed classrooms and destroyed furniture, caused a large crater in the school campus, where the displaced people who had sought shelter there on Wednesday sifted through rubble to look for some of their belongings.
'What happened is an earthquake. The Israeli occupation hit a school housing children. They are children,' said eyewitness Ali al-Shaqra. He said the school housed 300 families.
'Here is the building; it was razed to the ground. We cannot find the gas cylinder, the flour bag we had, the kilo of rice, or the meal we got from the Tukkiyah (community kitchen). Thank God we are left with the clothes we had on,' al-Shaqra added.
In Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, near the border with Egypt, residents and Hamas sources said Israeli forces, who have taken control of the city, continued to blow up and demolish houses and buildings.
Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, said on Wednesday their fighters had detonated a pre-planted minefield targeting an Israeli armored force east of Khan Younis in the south. They said they inflicted casualties, followed by mortar shelling of the area.
Aid halted
Israel resumed its offensive in March after the collapse of a US-backed ceasefire that had halted fighting for two months. It has since imposed an aid blockade, drawing warnings from the UN that the 2.3 million population faces imminent famine.
Israeli troops have already taken over an area amounting to around a third of Gaza, displacing the population and building watchtowers and surveillance posts on cleared ground the military has described as security zones.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will expand the offensive against Hamas after his security cabinet approved plans that may include seizing the entire Gaza Strip and controlling aid.
But an Israeli defense official said on Monday the operation would not be launched before US President Donald Trump concludes his visit next week to the Middle East, and there was a 'window of opportunity' for a ceasefire and hostage release deal during Trump's visit.
A senior Hamas official said on Wednesday Hamas would not agree to any interim truce in return for a resumption of aid for a few days, and insisted on a full ceasefire deal to end the war.
Basem Naim said Hamas would not accept 'desperate attempts before Trump's visit, through the crime of starvation, the continuation of genocide, and the threat of expanding military action to achieve a partial agreement that returns some (Israeli) prisoners in exchange for a few days of food and drink.'
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's campaign has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to health authorities, and reduced much of Gaza to ruins.
The Gaza government media office said the death of Nour Abdu on Wednesday raised to 213 the number of Palestinian journalists killed by Israeli fire since the war began.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Israel to expel French nationals on Gaza aid boat by end of week
Israel to expel French nationals on Gaza aid boat by end of week

Arab News

time26 minutes ago

  • Arab News

Israel to expel French nationals on Gaza aid boat by end of week

JERUSALEM: Israel is to expel by the end of the week four French nationals held after security forces intercepted their Gaza-bound aid boat, France's foreign minister said Wednesday, as an Israeli NGO said one of the French campaigners was briefly put in solitary confinement. The announcement came as France's prime minister accused activists aboard the boat — who hoped to raise awareness about the humanitarian situation in war-torn Gaza — of capitalizing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for political attention. The four, who include Rima Hassan, a member of European Parliament from the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party who is of Palestinian descent, will be deported on Thursday and Friday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X. They were among 12 people on board the Madleen sailboat which was carrying food and supplies for Gaza before it was intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters off the besieged Palestinian territory on Monday. Four, including two French citizens and Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, agreed to be deported immediately. The remaining eight were taken into custody after they refused to leave Israel voluntarily, according to Adalah, an Israeli rights NGO representing most of the activists. All 12 of them have been banned from Israel for 100 years. Adalah said on Wednesday that Israeli authorities had placed French MEP Hassan and Brazilian activist Thiago Avila in solitary confinement, with Hassan later removed. 'Israeli authorities transferred two of the volunteers — the Brazilian volunteer Thiago Avila and the French-Palestinian European Parliament member Rima Hassan — to separate prison facilities, away from the others, and placed them in solitary confinement,' Adalah said in a statement. The NGO later said that Hassan had been moved back to Givon prison in Ramla, near Tel Aviv, while Avila remained in isolation. When asked for comment, Israel's prison authority referred AFP to the foreign ministry, which said it was checking the reports. Adalah said Hassan was put in isolation after writing 'Free Palestine' on a prison wall. The NGO said Brazilian activist Avila was placed in isolation 'due to his ongoing hunger and thirst strike, which he began two days ago.' 'He has also been treated aggressively by prison authorities, although this has not escalated to physical assault,' it added. The leader of Hassan's LFI party in parliament, Mathilde Panot, said France's prime minister Francois Bayrou had failed to condemn Israel's actions. The party's boss, Jean-Luc Melenchon, accused Bayrou of 'abandoning the French prisoners,' and called on President Emmanuel Macron to step in. 'These activists obtained the effect they wanted, but it's a form of instrumentalization to which we should not lend ourselves,' Bayrou responded in the National Assembly. It's 'through diplomatic action, and efforts to bring together several states to pressure the Israeli government, that we can obtain the only possible solution' to the conflict, he added. Foreign Minister Barrot also rejected Panot's criticism, saying 'the admirable mobilization' of French officials had made a rapid resolution of the situation possible 'despite the harassment and defamation that they have been subjected to.' France and Saudi Arabia are co-hosting a UN meeting later this month in New York on steps toward recognizing a Palestinian state and reaching a so-called two-state solution to the conflict. Israel is facing mounting pressure to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, whose entire population the United Nations has warned is at risk of famine. Israel's defense minister Israel Katz on Wednesday called on Egypt to block a hundreds-strong pro-Palestinian activist convoy from reaching Gaza, as the group arrived in the Libyan capital of Tripoli. Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023 attacked Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,219 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says the retaliatory Israeli military offensive has killed at least 55,104 people, the majority civilians. The United Nations considers these figures to be reliable. Out of 251 taken hostage during the Hamas attack, 54 are still held in Gaza including 32 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel says bodies of two hostages retrieved from Gaza
Israel says bodies of two hostages retrieved from Gaza

Arab News

time2 hours ago

  • Arab News

Israel says bodies of two hostages retrieved from Gaza

JERUSALEM: Israeli forces have retrieved the bodies of two hostages from the Gaza Strip, the military said Wednesday, as Israel presses its offensive in the Palestinian territory. A military statement said a joint operation by the army and the Shin Bet security agency recovered the bodies of Yair Yaakov and 'an additional hostage whose name has not yet been cleared for publication' from the Khan Yunis area of southern Gaza. Yaakov, a member of Kibbutz Nir Oz, was 59 when he was seized in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and killed the same day. The military statement said he had been abducted and killed by fighters from Islamic Jihad, a Hamas ally. Yaakov was abducted along with his partner Meirav Tal, as they sheltered in their safe room in Nir Oz. She was freed on November 28, 2023 during the first truce. Abducted separately at the home of their mother, Yair's two children Yagil and Or were also released on November 27 during the first truce. Nir Oz was one of the communities hit hardest by the attack, with nearly a quarter of its residents killed or taken hostage.

Gaza death toll tops 55,000 as calls grow for ceasefire and accountability
Gaza death toll tops 55,000 as calls grow for ceasefire and accountability

Al Arabiya

time2 hours ago

  • Al Arabiya

Gaza death toll tops 55,000 as calls grow for ceasefire and accountability

In this episode of Global News Today, presented by Tom Burges Watson, we bring you the latest from around the world – with a special focus on the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza. As the death toll surpasses 55,000 since October 2023, we examine the scale of devastation, the international response, and the mounting calls for accountability and an end to conflict to prevent further loss of life. We analyze the remarks of US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, suggesting that Muslim-majority countries could provide land for a future Palestinian state. The comments have sparked intense global debate – we unpack the implications and international fallout. Tom is joined for reaction and analysis with special guest Andrew Gilmour, a former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights who shares his expert insight on the worsening humanitarian crisis. We also speak to Salam Fayyad, former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority. Salam Fayyad – Former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority Ambassador Hesham Youssef – Former career diplomat with the Egyptian foreign ministry

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store