Displaced civilians, including women and kids, perished in the airstrike on the school operated by the U.N. refugee agency, Gaza officials said, in what the IDF described as a “precise” strike targeting militants involved in Hamas’.
The Israeli military launched an airstrike on a school operated by the United Nations agency for refugees in the central Gaza Strip overnight, saying it was targeting Hamas. Local health officials said dozens of displaced civilians, including children, were killed in the attack.
Video captured by NBC News’ crew on the ground showed the exterior of the school heavily damaged, with rooms filled with rubble and makeshift beds. In one area, what appeared to be fragments of shrapnel could be seen.
The Israel Defense Forces said early Thursday morning it had launched a “precise strike” targeting a Hamas compound it said was embedded inside the UNRWA school in the area of the Nuseirat refugee camp. It said militants who took part in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks were killed in the strike.
IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said he was not aware of any civilian casualties in connection with the strike, adding that it had been postponed twice in order to separate and distinguish militants from civilians.
Local health officials said at least 30 people had been killed, including 23 women and children, and dozens injured, according to The Associated Press.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital suggested the death toll could be even higher, saying it had received as many as 40 bodies.
UNRWA Communications Director Juliette Touma told NBC News that the number of those reported killed in the Israeli offensive on the Nuseirat school was between 35 and 45, but added that the organization could not confirm the exact numbers at this stage.
She said UNRWA was not in a position to confirm the Israeli military’s claim the school was being used by Hamas militants.
