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Cairo:n The Hamas-controlled Gaza government said on Saturday (August 10) that an Israeli airstrike on a school compound housing displaced families in Gaza killed about 100 people. The Israeli military said the airstrike targeted Hamas militants there and expressed doubt about the death toll.
Video footage from the scene showed body parts strewn on the ground, more bodies being carried away and covered with blankets, empty food cans lying in a pool of blood, and charred mattresses and children’s dolls scattered among the rubble.
Elsewhere in Gaza City’s Tabin school complex, men prayed over a dozen body bags laid out on the ground.
The Hamas-controlled press office said in a statement that the attack took place as people taking refuge in the school were performing dawn prayers, causing heavy casualties.
“The death toll so far exceeds 93, including 11 children and six women. There are also bodies that remain unidentified,” Mahmoud Basar, spokesman for the Palestinian Civil Defence, told a televised news conference.
Basar said about 350 families were taking shelter in the compound. Two floors were hit, with the upper floors housing families including women and children and the lower floor used as a mosque. The Gaza Health Ministry has not yet provided details on casualties.
The Israeli military said in a Hebrew statement that the death toll was exaggerated and that about 20 Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters were operating at the site.
“The complex, and the mosque inside it that was attacked, is an active military installation of Hamas and Islamic Jihad,” Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said on X TV.
“Based on preliminary review, the figures released by the Hamas-controlled Gaza government press office do not match the information available to the IDF, the precision munitions used, and the accuracy of the attacks,” Shoshani said.
A military official said the area of the mosque that was attacked was a male zone and there were no women or children there.
“Intelligence confirmed this and the attack used three small precision munitions and would not have caused the scale of damage reported by the Palestinians,” the official said.
Israel says Palestinian militant groups are lurking among civilians in Gaza, operating in schools, hospitals and designated humanitarian areas – charges Hamas and its allies deny.
Hamas called the attack a horrific crime and a serious escalation. Izzat el-Reshiq, a member of Hamas’s political office, said “not a single fighter” was among the dead.
Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought shelter in Gaza’s schools, most of which have not functioned since the war began 10 months ago.
Another attack on Saturday killed three Palestinians in Nusseirat in central Gaza and one in the nearby city of Deir al-Balah, medics said.
New round of ceasefire talks
Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, urged Washington, an ally of Israel, to stop its “blind support, which leads to the death of thousands of innocent civilians, including children, women and the elderly.”
Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia condemned the attack, which came as mediators pushed for a resumption of ceasefire talks. Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said the attack should be a turning point in the efforts of both sides.
Egypt said the killing of Gaza civilians showed Israel had no intention of ending the war, while Qatar’s Foreign Ministry described the attack as a “horrific massacre.”
Egypt, the United States and Qatar plan to hold a new round of ceasefire talks on Thursday amid growing fears of a wider conflict involving Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will not end the war as long as Hamas no longer poses a threat to Israelis, and said he would send a delegation to the August 15 talks.
A Hamas official told Reuters the group was studying new proposals for talks, but did not elaborate.
Israel launched an attack on the Gaza Strip on October 7 after Hamas militants invaded southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 250 hostages, according to Israeli statistics.
Since then, the Israeli offensive on Gaza has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Health officials said most of the deaths were civilians. Israel lost 329 troops in Gaza and said at least a third of the Palestinian deaths were fighters. The Iran-backed Hamas did not release its casualties.
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