The Israeli military has said that a deadly Israeli strike on Gaza City, which has drawn international condemnation, targeted a Hamas "command and control center" located in a school and a nearby mosque. This was reported by Bloomberg, according to UNN.
Details
According to Hamas authorities in Gaza, about 100 people were killed in Saturday's rocket attack. The agency notes that these figures cannot be independently verified, and that Hamas does not distinguish between civilian and military casualties.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has previously criticized Israel for civilian casualties, reaffirming its "right to pursue terrorists like Hamas.
Once again, too many civilians have been killed. We need an agreement on hostages and a ceasefire. The agreement must be implemented, and it must be done now,
The Israeli Defense Forces said that about 20 "Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, including senior commanders" were in the al-Tabain school. They were using the complex "to carry out terrorist attacks," an IDF spokesman said. He claimed that the strike was carried out with precision munitions and that Hamas' assessment of the damage was not true.
Sean Savett, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said that the United States is demanding "additional details" from Israeli officials about the strike. The United States also called on Israel to take steps to "minimize harm to civilians.
The European Union's chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, wrote on social network X that he was "horrified by the images from the Gaza school shelter." "At least 10 schools have been targeted in recent weeks. There is no excuse for this carnage," he said.
Gaza's local authorities reported that among the dead were women and children hiding in a school. The newspaper notes that this attack is one of the deadliest in the war between Israel and Hamas, which has been going on for 11 months. The high death toll is expected to hamper international attempts to resume ceasefire talks between the two sides.
Recall
The Hamas-ruled government of the Gaza Strip claimed on Saturday, August 10, that an Israeli airstrike targeted a school compound in the Gaza Strip housing displaced families and that about 100 people were killed, while the Israeli military said it was targeting Hamas militants and questioned the number of dead.