Israeli strikes pounded a Gaza refugee camp on Friday, after a deadly strike on a UN-run school, as the war triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel entered its ninth month.
The war has killed tens of thousands of people, devastated much of the Gaza Strip, dislocated the majority of its 2.4 million residents, and left them at risk of hunger.
Diplomatic efforts to mediate the first truce since a week-long pause in November appear to have stagnated, just a week after US President Joe Biden proposed a fresh three-stage roadmap.
Hamas, which has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007, has not responded to Biden’s proposal. Israel has signaled a willingness to engage in dialogue while remaining committed to destroying the Palestinian Islamist group.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza reported, “At least 37 people were killed in the Israeli strike on the UN-run school in Nuseirat camp on Thursday”.
The Israeli army says its fighter jets killed nine terrorists in three classrooms where approximately 30 militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad were hiding.
According to the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees, UNRWA, hundreds of displaced Palestinians were sheltering at the school which was hit without prior warning.
UN Secretary-General Chief Antonio Guterres denounced the strike as another horrific example of the price that civilians are paying.
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