At least 30 killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza schools, hospital compound after talks fail

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — An Israeli F-35 combat aircraft is seen in the skies over Israel's border with Lebanon, in northern Israel, October 9, 2023. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) -An Israeli airstrike hit two schools in Gaza City on Sunday, killing at least 30 people, Palestinian officials said, while the Israeli military said it struck a Hamas military compound embedded in the schools.

An Israeli airstrike hit a tent camp inside a hospital in central Gaza earlier in the day. Gaza health officials said a total of at least 44 Palestinians were killed on Sunday, the day after a round of talks in Cairo ended without result.

Footage circulated on Palestinian media showed bodies scattered inside the yard of one of two blast-wrecked schools as residents rushed to carry casualties, including children, and loaded them into ambulance vehicles that took them to at least two nearby hospitals.

Gaza's Civil Emergency Service said dozens were wounded in addition to the fatalities in the schools of Hassan Salama and Al-Nasser, which housed Palestinian displaced families.

The Israeli military said it struck militants inside a Hamas command embedded within the schools and that it took steps to reduce the risk to civilians there.

Israel says the Islamist militant group Hamas regularly embeds in civilian institutions, using Gaza's population as human shields. Hamas denies this.

Earlier in the day, an Israeli strike inside the Al-Aqsa Hospital compound started a fire, and wounded at least 18 people as well as killing five, medical authorities said.

The Israeli military said it struck a militant operating there and that secondary explosions were identified, indicating weapons were present in the area.

The hospital compound is in Deir Al-Balah, an area crowded with thousands of people displaced by fighting in other parts of the enclave.

Elsewhere in Deir Al-Balah, three Palestinians were killed when an Israeli missile struck a house. Separate Israeli strikes killed eight others inside their home in Jabalia camp in northern Gaza City and three inside a car.

Residents in areas southeast of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis and to the north of Rafah, where there was heavy fighting last month, reported receiving evacuation orders from the Israeli military.

The Israeli army spokesman posted orders on X, asking residents of those districts to head towards the humanitarian zone, saying forces would soon act forcefully against militants waging attacks from those areas.

In Israel, sirens went off in the area of Ashdod and the Israeli military said five rockets were launched from southern Gaza. No injuries were reported. Hamas said the rocket firing was in response to Israeli "massacres against the civilians."

ISRAEL BRACES FOR ESCALATION

Israel is bracing for a serious escalation following the assassination of Hamas' leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday, a day after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed Fuad Shukr, a top military commander from Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to convene special security discussions late on Sunday, a defence official said, following threats of retaliation from Iran and Hezbollah.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said he was reviewing plans "that would exact a price in the case of attempts by Iran and its proxies to attack Israel."

"Our readiness in terms of defense is high - be it on the ground or in the air, and we are prepared for both a swift response or attack. If they dare to attack us, they will pay a heavy price," Gallant said in a statement.

Hamas and Iran have both accused Israel of carrying out the assassination of Haniyeh and have pledged to retaliate. Israel has neither claimed nor denied responsibility for the death.

Hezbollah, like Hamas, is backed by Iran and has also vowed revenge after the killing of Shukr.

The war was triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

At least 39,550 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians.

Palestinian health officials say most the fatalities have been civilians. Israel, which has lost around 330 soldiers in Gaza, says around a third of the Palestinian dead are fighters.

(Reporting by Nidal al-MughrabiAdditional reporting by Ari RabinovitchEditing by Barbara Lewis and Frances Kerry)