At least 93 Palestinians have lost their lives in an Israeli strike targeting a school and mosque in Gaza where displaced individuals had sought refuge.
According to CNN, Gaza’s civil defense agency on Saturday said the death toll from the latest Israeli airstrike on a school, where Palestinians had taken shelter, has now surpassed 90.
Meanwhile, Israel’s military has stated that the target was a command center used by militants.
The Gaza Civil Defense reported that the Al-Tabi’in compound in Gaza City’s Al-Daraj neighborhood was hit during dawn prayers on Saturday.
Israel acknowledged the strike, stating that Hamas was operating from within the compound.
“We recovered at least 90 people who had been killed,” Gaza Civil Defense Spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said, noting that “many of them are torn apart, many are still unidentified.”
Videos reviewed by CNN show a large number of bodies scattered across the area following the strike. Witnesses claimed that there was no prior warning before the attack.
“All of these people who were targeted were civilians, unarmed children, the elderly, men and women,” said Fares Afana, director of ambulance and emergency services in northern Gaza.
“These were innocent people praying… where is the entire world?” expressed one man, mourning the loss of his daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the strike, stating that its air force “precisely struck Hamas terrorists operating within a Hamas command and control center embedded” in the building.
The military added that several measures were taken to minimize civilian casualties, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and intelligence information.
When asked for evidence supporting the claim that a command center was located within the compound, the IDF cited intelligence suggesting that around 20 Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters were operating from the building.
The IDF also questioned the death toll reported by Gazan authorities. CNN has not been able to independently verify the figures.
Saturday’s strike marks the fifth instance of an Israeli strike on a school in Gaza since last Sunday, as per CNN’s previous reporting.
Earlier in the week, the UN Human Rights Office expressed its horror over the “unfolding pattern” of strikes on schools in Gaza, as stated on August 5th, emphasizing that “such attacks are escalating.”
The ongoing Israeli military action in Gaza has resulted in nearly 40,000 Palestinian deaths and over 90,000 injuries, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. By early July, almost 2 million people, nearly the entire population of Gaza, had been displaced, based on United Nations data.
Israel initiated the military offensive on October 7, following an attack on southern Israel by the militant group Hamas, which left at least 1,200 people dead and over 250 others abducted, according to Israeli authorities.
Basal mentioned that many of the deceased have not yet been identified, while those transferred to hospitals are in critical condition.
“There are still large quantities of body parts and torn bodies inside Al-Ahli hospital,” he stated. “Families are having a hard time identifying their children.”
A woman, known as Um Ahmed, shared with CNN that she could not find her husband after the strike. “I went to look for my husband and I didn’t see anybody, they were all in pieces,” she recounted.
Um Ahmed noted that the mosque was filled with young people who were “all in pieces and dismembered” following the attack.
“The bodies here are not identifiable… they are all dismembered body parts,” said another man who visited the school after hearing about the strike during his morning prayer.
Displaced Palestinians gathered in the schoolyard of a facility hit by an Israeli strike in Gaza City on August 10, 2024.
Saturday’s strike follows a series of deadly Israeli airstrikes over the past week.
Airstrikes targeting multiple school buildings housing displaced Palestinians last weekend resulted in the deaths of at least 47 individuals, including many children, and left dozens more injured.
Videos obtained by CNN from the scene of last Sunday’s strike – which the IDF also claimed targeted Hamas infrastructure – depict widespread destruction and dead bodies in a schoolyard.
The footage shows medics and rescuers carrying injured children to ambulances.
Palestinian officials told mentioned that Israel provided no warning to civilians before the airstrikes occurred.
