Children among dozens killed in strike on Gaza school that Israeli military says

The Israeli military launched an airstrike on a school operated by the United Nations agency for refugees in the central Gaza Strip overnight, saying it was targeting Hamas. Local health officials said dozens of displaced civilians, including children, were killed in the attack.

Video captured by NBC News’ crew on the ground showed the exterior of the school heavily damaged, with rooms filled with rubble and makeshift beds. In one area, what appeared to be fragments of shrapnel could be seen.

The Israel Defense Forces said early Thursday morning it had launched a “precise strike” targeting a Hamas compound it said was embedded inside the UNRWA school in the area of the Nuseirat refugee camp. It said militants who took part in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks were killed in the strike.

IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said he was not aware of any civilian casualties in connection with the strike, adding that it had been postponed twice in order to separate and distinguish militants from civilians. 

Local health officials said at least 30 people had been killed, including 23 women and children, and dozens injured, according to The Associated Press.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital suggested the death toll could be even higher, saying it had received as many as 40 bodies.

UNRWA Communications Director Juliette Touma told NBC News that the number of those reported killed in the Israeli offensive on the Nuseirat school was between 35 and 45, but added that the organization could not confirm the exact numbers at this stage.

She said UNRWA was not in a position to confirm the Israeli military’s claim the school was being used by Hamas militants.

Lerner said the IDF had understood there to be around 20 to 30 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants using the school to plan and execute attacks. He said that as soon as the IDF has a list of their identities, it would release it to the public.

Witnesses and hospital officials said the strike hit Al-Sardi School, run by UNRWA, the AP reported. They said the school was filled with Palestinians who had fled the Israeli offensive and bombardment in northern Gaza.

Ayman Rashed, who said he had been at the school after being displaced from Gaza City, told the AP that missiles hit classrooms on the second and third floor of the facility where families were sheltering. He said he helped carry out five of those killed, including an old man and two children.

“It was dark, with no electricity, and we struggled to get out the victims,” he said.

The attack comes after the Israeli military said it was starting new operations in the area, appearing to broaden its monthslong offensive in the enclave. It also comes as Israel faces mounting backlash on the global stage after a “targeted” strike appeared to spark a deadly fire that swept through a tent camp housing displaced civilians, killing at least 45 people.

Images emerging from that attack showed screaming Palestinians fleeing for safety and helping the injured, with video shared on social media showing the burned corpses of people killed. In one video, a man could be seen holding up the headless body of a small child.

The IDF has said it is investigating the May 26 strike.

While witnesses said the school hit in the IDF’s latest strike was filled with Palestinians fleeing fighting in northern Gaza, Nuseirat is also one of several areas that hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians have fled to over recent weeks after Israeli forces launched ground operations in Rafah last month and ordered evacuations in the city in southern Gaza, which Israel had previously declared a “safe zone.”

Israeli forces have declared nearby Muwasi a humanitarian area and “safer” zone for Palestinians to seek refuge, but crowded conditions at the site and fears for safety have forced many to seek shelter elsewhere.

“This is a stark reminder that there is no safe place for children in Gaza,” said Adele Khodr, regional director of UNICEF’s office for the Middle East and North Africa said in a post on X on Thursday. “More children will continue to be killed under the world’s watch if immediate action is not taken to stop the violence.”

More than 36,500 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, since Israel launched its offensive on the enclave following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks, in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 others taken hostage, according to Israeli officials. Some 120 people remain held captive in Gaza, with at least a third believed to be dead, Israeli officials have said.