Israeli strike kills dozens at school complex in Gaza

School complex belonging to the United Nations located in Central Gaza has been hit by an Israeli airstrike on Thursday.

The attack on the United Nations facility which has been a shelter for thousands of displaced Palestinians killed dozens of people, the New York Times has reported.

Defending the attack on the facility, the Israeli military explained that they precisely targeted Hamas operatives, some of whom took part in the Oct. 7 attacks.

Spokesperson for the Israeli military, Daniel Hagari said, “Our precise strike was based on concrete intelligence from multiple sources. The terrorists inside the school were planning more attacks against Israelis, some of them imminent. We stopped a ticking time bomb.”

Most of the dead and injured were taken to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah, a city near the strike site in Nuseirat, where families could be seen weeping over dead children, and injured children.

Palestinian officials, however, stated that the Israeli military killed civilians with the strike, while the Gazan Health Ministry revealed that out of the about 40 deaths from the strike, 14 were children and nine were women.