An Israeli air strike tore through a Gaza City shelter housing displaced Palestinians on Saturday morning, killing around 100 people, according to authorities in the Hamas-run enclave.
The strike on the Al Taba’een school in the Daraj Tuffah neighbourhood came during dawn prayers, according to eyewitnesses, with videos on social media showing masses of bodies in a makeshift hall.
If confirmed, the death toll would make it one of the deadliest Israeli attacks since the start of the Gaza war, which is now entering its 11th month.
Local authorities in Gaza City called it a “massacre”, as emergency personnel worked to locate and evacuate the injured from the rubble.
Taisir al-Tanna, a surgeon at the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City where many of the victims of the attack were taken, said: “There are lots of dangerous injuries. This has been a very bloody day.”
He said he had carried out several amputations, including operating on at least four children.
The Israeli military on Saturday confirmed it had struck the school, saying that it was targeting a “Hamas command and control centre” within which militants were taking cover and planning attacks.
“Numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and intelligence information,” the Israeli military said in a statement, adding that the shelter for civilians displaced by the fighting was located in a mosque adjacent to the school.
Over the past month, the Israeli military has stepped up its attacks on schools across the Gaza Strip, arguing that Hamas militants are using civilian shelters as operational hubs and the displaced people there are “human shields”.
At least 19 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants were killed in the strike, the Israel Defense Forces later said. It disputed the death toll reported from inside Gaza.
“The strike was carried out using three precise munitions, which, according to professional analysis, cannot cause the amount of damage that is being reported by the Hamas-run Government Information Office in Gaza,” the IDF said.
A spokesperson for the US National Security Council said it was “deeply concerned” about the reports of civilian casualties and was asking Israel for “further details”.
“We know Hamas has been using schools as locations to gather and operate out of, but we have also said repeatedly and consistently that Israel must take measures to minimise civilian harm,” the NSC said in a statement. “This underscores the urgency of a ceasefire and hostage deal, which we continue to work tirelessly to achieve.”
According to health authorities in the shattered enclave, more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since the conflict began. It was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel which killed 1,200 people, according to official Israeli figures. Some 250 Israelis and foreign nationals were taken to Gaza as hostages during the assault, of whom more than 100 remain in captivity.
Saturday’s strike came as the US, Egypt and Qatar made a renewed push for a deal in Gaza that would halt the fighting and bring the Israeli hostages home.
The three countries, which have been trying to mediate between Israel and Hamas for months, issued a statement calling for both sides “to resume urgent discussions in Doha or Cairo to close remaining gaps” and “commence implementation of the deal without further delay”.
A meeting was mooted for next Thursday, although its prospects remain unclear. The US and its allies view a ceasefire-for-hostages deal as the only way to de-escalate regional hostilities.
Israel on Saturday remained on edge, awaiting an attack by Iran and the Lebanon-based Hizbollah movement in retaliation for two recent assassinations targeting senior militant leaders.
An Israeli air strike killed top Hizbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut late last month, while a few hours later, Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader, was slain in Tehran. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for Haniyeh’s assassination.
The administration of US President Joe Biden is racing to avoid a full-blown war and moving additional military assets, including battleships and fighter jet squadrons, to the region.
In a call with Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant on Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that “escalation is in no party’s interest”.
According to a statement released by the US State Department, Blinken “reiterated the urgent need to reach a ceasefire in Gaza that would secure the release of hostages, allow a surge of humanitarian assistance, and create the conditions for broader regional stability”.
Additional reporting by Heba Saleh in Cairo and Felicia Schwartz in Washington