Hamas says it will not withdraw from ceasefire talks after Israeli attack

The civil defense agency in Gaza said on Sunday that 15 people were killed in an attack on a displaced school shelter in what the Israeli military said was targeting „terrorists”.

The school turned fifth in eight days at the UN-run Abu Arab base in central Gaza’s Nusirat camp.

The Abu Araban school is home to „thousands of displaced people”, civil protection agency spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told AFP, adding that most of the dead were women and children.

Schools in Nusirat have been the target of two previous school strikes as Israel continues its offensive against Palestinian militants from Hamas, which triggered the war with an October 7 attack on Israel.

The Israeli military said its air force „hit several terrorists operating in the area of ​​UNRWA’s Abu Araban school building in Nusirat”.

It said the building served as a „hideout” and a base for „attacks” on Israeli troops.

AFPTV images showed the three-storey complex standing, clothes and beds spread over its railings. A wall bearing the UN emblem was demolished and the rooms inside were damaged.

On July 6, Israeli aircraft struck the al-Jawni school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Nusirat. About 2,000 people were staying there at the time, according to UNRWA.

The next day, the Civil Defense Agency said four people died in a strike on the church-run Holy Family School in Gaza City, north of the territory.

On Monday, Israel struck another Nusirat school, again saying it was targeting „terrorists”.

The following day, at least 29 people were killed in a strike at the entrance to al-Awda school in southern Gaza’s Khan Yunis area, a hospital source said.

Israel says Hamas uses schools, hospitals and other public infrastructure for military purposes. Hamas has denied the allegations.

France and Germany called for an investigation into the school strikes on Wednesday.

After the al-Jawni strike, UNRWA spokeswoman Juliet Douma told AFP that „we closed the schools and they turned into shelters” when the fighting started.

UNRWA is Gaza’s main relief agency, but more than half, or 190 facilities, have been affected — „some more than once” — by the military response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, he said.