At least 22 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people in the southern Gaza Strip today, reported Reuters, citing the "Hamas" Ministry of Health in the Palestinian Territory.
However, the Israeli armed forces said the attack was aimed at a command center of the Palestinian armed group.
According to the health ministry in Gaza, most of the dead were women and children. The media office of the Hamas-controlled government said 13 children, including a three-month-old baby, and six women were among the dead.
For its part, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it struck a Hamas command center located in a compound that previously served as a school, reiterating accusations against the Palestinian group of using civilian sites for military purposes - accusations that "Hamas" denies.
Gaza's health ministry also said that in the town of Rafah, in the southern coastal territory, four medical workers were killed in an Israeli strike that hit the department's warehouses. Emergency medical teams could not reach the dead or provide first aid to the injured.
In a statement earlier today, the IDF said that Israeli soldiers, who have been operating in Rafah since May, have killed dozens of fighters in recent weeks and destroyed military infrastructure and numerous tunnels.
Israel's desire to maintain control of the border strip between Gaza and Egypt, the so-called Philadelphia Corridor, is a major obstacle to international efforts to conclude a cease-fire agreement between Israel and "Hamas", notes Reuters.< /p>
"Hamas" claims to be focused on reaching an agreement to end the war and withdraw Israeli forces from Gaza, while Israel believes the war can only end once the Palestinian movement is completely destroyed. Another point of contention in the negotiation process is the specifics of exchanging Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, according to Reuters.
The current war in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict began on October 7, when fighters from the "Hamas" carried out attacks on towns and kibbutzim in southern Israel, and according to Israeli figures, 1,200 people were killed in the attacks and about 250 were kidnapped and taken hostage.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced today, as quoted by AFP, that the death toll since the start of the Israeli offensive in the Palestinian territory has reached 41,391.
At least 119 people have been killed in the past 72 hours alone, the statement said. 95,760 people have been injured in Gaza since the beginning of the war, which has been going on for almost a year now.
This data has not been independently verified.