The assaults occurred as a high-level Israeli delegation visited Egypt in an try to revisit Gaza truce talks.
At the least 15 individuals have been killed in Israeli air raids on a faculty sheltering displaced Palestinians in central Gaza, Gaza’s Authorities Media Workplace mentioned.
Many others have been injured within the assault on the Hamama college within the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in Gaza Metropolis, the official Palestinian information company Wafa reported on Saturday.
Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza on Saturday, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud mentioned that no less than three bombs have been dropped on the college as rescuers and volunteers inside the power have been attempting to assist individuals escape from below the rubble.
“These three bombs destroyed the power utterly. That is the tactic that the Israeli navy has broadly used prior to now. The navy drops a bomb that partially destroys amenities, particularly evacuation centres, killing various individuals, after which inside a couple of minutes, it drops different bombs,” he mentioned.
The Israeli navy mentioned the college was getting used as a command centre for Hamas, the Palestinian group that governs Gaza, to cover fighters and manufacture weapons.
Hamas has denied Israeli accusations that it operates from civilian amenities resembling colleges and hospitals.
The group condemned the Israeli assaults on the college and mentioned in a press release that “the occupation military makes use of lies as a pretext to focus on defenseless civilians in Gaza.”
In footage verified by Al Jazeera, victims of the Israeli assaults have been seen arriving at al-Ahli Hospital.
Among the many wounded have been youngsters, a few of whom seemed to be unconscious, as medical employees desperately tried to deal with them.
The scenes on the hospital have been chaotic, with a few of the wounded mendacity on the flooring as grieving Palestinians lined the corridors.
In accordance with the testimony of one of many wounded, the raids have been carried out with out warning.
Earlier on Saturday, Israeli assaults within the Gaza Strip killed six individuals in a home within the southern space of Rafah and two others in Gaza Metropolis, Gaza well being officers mentioned.
The Israeli military mentioned its forces had struck fighters and destroyed Hamas infrastructure in Rafah and elsewhere within the assaults.
Within the occupied West Financial institution, two Israeli assaults killed 9 fighters, together with an area Hamas commander on Saturday, Hamas mentioned.
A Hamas assertion added that a type of killed was a commander of its Tulkarem brigades, whereas its ally Islamic Jihad mentioned 4 of the boys who died within the raids have been its fighters.
The most recent assaults got here as a high-level Israeli delegation made a short go to to Cairo on Saturday in an try to resume Gaza ceasefire negotiations, Egyptian airport authority sources mentioned.
The delegation returned to Israel hours later, Israeli media mentioned.
Probabilities of a breakthrough seem low as regional stress has soared following the assassination of Hamas’s chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday, a day after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed Fuad Shukr, a prime navy commander from Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, a Hamas ally.
Haniyeh’s demise was one in a collection of killings of senior Hamas figures because the Gaza warfare nears its eleventh month, and it fuelled concern that the battle in Gaza was turning right into a wider Center East warfare.
Hamas and Iran have each accused Israel of finishing up the assassination of Haniyeh and have pledged to retaliate. Israel has neither claimed nor denied duty for the demise.