Israeli strike on school-turned-shelter in Gaza kills 27

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli strike on a school sheltering the displaced in the Gaza Strip killed at least 27 people on Thursday, Palestinian medical officials said. The Israeli military said it targeted militants, but people sheltering there said the strike hit a meeting of aid workers.

Israel has continued to strike at what it says are militant targets across the Palestinian enclave even as attention has shifted to its war against Hezbollah in Lebanon and rising tensions with Iran. The military launched a large-scale air and ground operation against Hamas in northern Gaza earlier this week.

In a separate development, the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said an Israeli tank fired on its headquarters in the town of Naqoura, hitting an observation tower and wounding two peacekeepers, who were hospitalized.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the incident.

UNIFIL said in a statement that its headquarters and nearby positions “have been repeatedly hit.” It said the army also fired on a nearby bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, damaging vehicles and a communication system. It said an Israeli drone was seen flying to the bunker's entrance.

The strike in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah killed 27 people, including a child and seven women, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the bodies were brought. It said several other people were wounded.

An Associated Press reporter saw ambulances streaming into the hospital and counted the bodies, many of which arrived in pieces.

The Israeli military said it carried out a precise strike targeting a militant command and control center inside the school, without providing evidence. Israel has repeatedly attacked schools that were turned into shelters in Gaza, accusing militants of hiding out in them.

Witnesses said the strike occurred while school managers were meeting with representatives of an aid group in a room normally used by Hamas-run police who provide security. They said there were no police in the room at the time.

The Palestinian branch of Terre des Hommes, a Swiss aid group, said in a statement that members of one of its children’s health teams were killed in the strike, though it did not specify how many.

“There were no militants. There was no Hamas,” said Iftikhar Hamouda, who had fled from northern Gaza earlier in the war.

“We headed to tents. They bombed the tents... In the streets, they bombed us. In the markets, they bombed us. In the schools, they bombed us,” she said. “Where should we go?”

The Hamas-run government operated a civilian police force numbering in the tens of thousands. They largely vanished from the streets after the start of the war as Israel targeted them with airstrikes, but plainclothes Hamas security personnel still exert control over most areas.

Hamas has continued to launch attacks on Israeli forces and fire occasional rockets into Israel more than a year after its Oct. 7 attack ignited the war.

Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel and rampaged through army bases and farming communities in that attack, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 others. They are still holding around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel’s offensive has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not say how many were fighters but say women and children make up more than half of the fatalities. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times.

UNIFIL, which has more than 10,000 peacekeepers from dozens of countries, was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel’s 1978 invasion. The U.N. expanded its mission following the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, allowing peacekeepers to patrol a buffer zone set up along the border.

Israel accuses Hezbollah of establishing militant infrastructure right along the border in violation of the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. It has warned people to evacuate from dozens of communities in southern Lebanon, many of which are outside the buffer zone.

The U.N. peacekeeping chief, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, said last week that U.N. peacekeepers were staying in their positions on Lebanon’s southern border despite Israel’s request to vacate some areas before it launched its ground operation against Hezbollah.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in support of Hamas and the Palestinians, drawing Israeli airstrikes in retaliation.

The fighting steadily escalated, and eventually boiled over into all-out war in recent weeks, with Israel carrying out waves of heavy strikes across Lebanon and launching the ground invasion. Hezbollah has expanded its rocket fire to more populated areas deeper inside Israel, causing few casualties but disrupting daily life.

Israel says the ground invasion, which has so far focused on a narrow strip along the border, is aimed at pushing the militants back so that tens of thousands of Israelis can return to their homes in the north. The fighting has displaced over a million people in Lebanon.

Iran supports Hamas, Hezbollah and other armed groups across the region that refer to themselves as the Axis of Resistance against Israel. Iran launched some 180 ballistic missiles at Israel last week in retaliation for the killing of top Hamas and Hezbollah militants.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday that its response to the Iranian missile attack will be “lethal” and “surprising,” without providing further details, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with U.S. President Joe Biden.

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel contributed.

Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.

Israeli firefighting planes fly over smoke from a fire after a rocket, fired from Lebanon, hit the area near Hatzor Haglilit, northern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Two Turkish military ships sail in the Mediterranean Sea, heading from the port of Mersin, Turkey, to the port of Beirut to deliver human aid and evacuate Turkish citizens from Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Turkish citizens carry their cats as they wait to board a Turkish navy vessel to be evacuated to Turkey at a gathering point, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Turkish security officials stand guard next to Turkish military ships preparing to evacuate citizens from Lebanon to Turkey in Beirut port, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Turkish citizens walk to board Turkish military ships evacuating them from Lebanon to Turkey, in Beirut port on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Turkish citizens walk to board Turkish military ships evacuating them from Lebanon to Turkey, in Beirut port on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

People, mostly Turkish citizens, rest on board of a Turkish military ship evacuating them from Lebanon to Turkey, in Beirut port, on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

A Palestinian man carries an injured child after an Israeli airstrike in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - Bodies of Palestinians killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip are brought to the hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A Palestinian child wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip is treated at a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Tents are crammed together as displaced Palestinians camp along the beach of Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

An Israeli strike on a school sheltering the displaced in the Gaza Strip killed at least 27 people, including a child and seven women, Palestinian officials said Thursday, as Israel continues to strike at what it says are militant targets across Gaza.

In southern Lebanon, the U.N. peacekeeping force said an Israeli tank fired on its headquarters in the town of Naqoura, hitting an observation tower and wounding two peacekeepers, who were hospitalized.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not say how many were fighters but say women and children make up more than half of the fatalities. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times.

A year ago, Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed into army bases and farming communities, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. They are still holding about 100 captives inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel is now at war with Hamas in Gaza and its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, which began firing rockets at Israel on Oct. 8, 2023.

Here is the latest:

TEL AVIV, Israel - Israel’s police and Shin Bet internal security service said on Thursday they arrested five Palestinians from northern Israel associated with the Islamic State group over an alleged plan to bomb a mall in Tel Aviv.

The Shin Bet said the five men were active in online discussions on how to plant a car bomb that would topple large skyscrapers in central Tel Aviv. The suspects also allegedly watched videos of Islamic State attacks in Syria.

Police said they thwarted the plan “in the early stages of its implementation” and seized weapons from their home. Police did not provide further evidence. Two of the men had expressed interest in going abroad to fight with the Islamic State, according to police.

The arrests came as Israel faced a spate of shooting and stabbing attacks carried out by Palestinians from Israel and the occupied West Bank that have killed 9 people and wounded dozens in recent days.

ROME — Italy’s Defence Minister Guido Crosetto has urgently summoned the Israeli ambassador to Italy to discuss the strike on a U.N. peacekeeping base in southern Lebanon where Italian personnel operate.

Italy has about 1,000 soldiers deployed in Lebanon, participating in the UN peacekeeping mission.

A UNIFIL spokesperson said Thursday that two peacekeepers were hospitalized after its headquarters in Naqoura was directly hit by Israeli tank fire. Israeli forces have “deliberately” fired at the UN position in recent days, the spokesperson said.

The U.N. peacekeeping chief, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, said last week that U.N. peacekeepers were staying in their positions on Lebanon’s southern border despite Israel’s request to vacate some areas before it launched its ground operation against Hezbollah militants.

UNIFIL was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel’s 1978 invasion. The U.N. expanded its mission following the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, allowing peacekeepers to deploy along the Israeli border. The force has more than 10,000 peacekeepers from around 50 countries.

BEIRUT — The U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said Thursday an Israeli tank fired on its headquarters in the town of Naqoura, hitting an observation tower and wounding two peacekeepers, who were hospitalized.

UNIFIL said in a statement that its headquarters and nearby positions “have been repeatedly hit.” It said the army also fired on a nearby bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, damaging vehicles and a communication system. It said an Israeli drone was seen flying to the bunker’s entrance.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — A strike on a school sheltering displaced people in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah killed 27 people, including a child and seven women, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the bodies were brought. It said several other people were wounded.

An Associated Press reporter saw ambulances streaming into the hospital and counted the bodies, many of which arrived in pieces.

“We appeal to the world. We are dying!” one man screamed.

The Israeli military said it carried out a precise strike targeting a militant command and control center inside the school. Israel has repeatedly attacked schools that were turned into shelters in Gaza, accusing militants of hiding out in them.

Witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons said the strike occurred while school managers were meeting with representatives of an aid group in a room normally used by Hamas-run police who provide security. They said there were no police in the room at the time.

Over 2,000 Turkish citizens and some foreign nationals started boarding a Turkish military ship late Wednesday that brought in aid and will take them out of a country being hit by Israeli airstrikes targeting Hezbollah.

It's part of a six-ship convoy including escorts that set sail from the southern Turkish port of Mersin early Wednesday, transporting 300 tons of humanitarian supplies, including food, hygiene kits, kitchenware, tents, beds and blankets.

Besides the Turkish citizens, people from Bulgaria, Romania and Kazakhstan were among those who applied to evacuate on the ships. Officials did not provide numbers.

Turkey’s government plans to organize more sea evacuations if necessary and is contemplating charter flights to repatriate citizens.

Read more here.

UNITED NATIONS – The top U.N. official in Lebanon repeated her call for an immediate cease-fire, saying the 21-day cease-fire proposal launched by the U.S. and France is still on the table “and very relevant.”

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said Wednesday that a halt to fighting is the only way to ease “the colossal human suffering that is happening right now,” address Lebanon’s “humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportions” and provide a window “for diplomatic efforts to take hold and succeed.”

The U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon expressed hope during a video press conference from Beirut “that Israel will now, or soon, be ready to add its support to the many calls and appeals out there for a cease-fire or a pause.”

“I’m not saying that it’s going to be an easy ride or walk in a park,” she said. “It will be difficult, but I am convinced that it’s doable, and it’s in the interest of Lebanon, in the interest of Israel to find sustainable solutions.”

Hennis-Plasschaert said there must also be a realistic roadmap to implement the 2006 U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the Israeli-Hezbollah war. Its key provisions include disarming all armed groups including Hezbollah and deploying the Lebanese army throughout the country’s south, which borders Israel and is mainly controlled by the militant group.

“At the end of the day, it is the lack or non-implementation of resolution 1701 over the past 18 years that led to today’s harsh reality,” Hennis-Plasschaert said.

Tents are crammed together as displaced Palestinians camp along the beach of Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Members of Doctors Without Borders treat a displaced man fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, in an empty building complex, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A Turkish citizen sits next of her belongings, as she waits to board a Turkish navy vessel to be evacuated to Turkey at a gathering point, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Rescue workers search for victims on a hotel-turned-shelter for displaced people hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Wardaniyeh, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A Palestinian man carries an injured child after an Israeli airstrike in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)