Israeli air strike on Gaza school claims 28 lives

The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that an Israeli air strike on a school in Gaza killed at least 28 people on Thursday. This comes amid ongoing conflict, with the Israeli military stating that the strike targeted a Hamas command center.

"Palestine Red Crescent teams responded to 28 fatalities and 54 injuries following the Israeli occupation army's targeting of Rafida School," the organisation said, referring to a school in Deir el-Balah.

The Gaza Health Ministry, run by Hamas, confirmed the same death toll of 28 in its statement following the air strike. The Israeli army explained that the strike was aimed at Palestinian combatants operating from a command-and-control center located within a compound that had previously been the Rafida School.


The Israeli military did not provide a casualty figure for the air strike, but stated that the targeted command-and-control center was being used to plan and carry out terrorist attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel.

Thursday’s attack is part of a continuing series of Israeli air strikes on school buildings that are sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza, a territory where intense fighting has persisted for more than a year. These strikes, especially on civilian infrastructures like schools, have led to significant international concern over the humanitarian crisis in the region.

On September 26, a strike on a school-turned-shelter in northern Gaza's Jabalia camp resulted in the deaths of at least 15 people, as reported by Gaza's civil defense agency. The Israeli military has been conducting an intense operation in Jabalia, a densely populated area where military activities are ongoing.

Since the war began, at least 42,065 Palestinians—the majority of them civilians—have been killed during Israel's military campaign in Gaza, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory.

The war was triggered by the October 7 attack, which led to the deaths of 1,206 people on the Israeli side, with most being civilians.

[With AFP inputs]