The deadliest strike came Wednesday afternoon, targeting the U.N.’s Al-Jaouni Preparatory Boys School in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp. The Israeli military said it was targeting Hamas militants planning attacks from inside the school. The claim could not be independently confirmed.
At least 14 dead from the strike, including two children and a woman, were brought to Awda and al-Aqsa Martyrs hospitals nearby, officials from the facilities said. At least 18 people were wounded in the strike, they said.
One of the children killed was the daughter of Momin Selmi, a member of Gaza’s civil defense agency, which works rescuing wounded and bodies after strikes, the agency said in a statement. Selmi hadn’t seen his daughter for 10 months, since he remained in north Gaza to keep working while his family fled south, the agency said.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians driven from their homes by Israeli offensives and evacuation orders are living in Gaza’s schools. The al-Jaouni school, one of many in Gaza run by the U.N. agency for Palestinians UNWRA, has been hit by multiple strikes over the course of the war.