Israeli strikes kill at least 18 in central Gaza

Gunmen hold up their weapons as the bodies of Palestinians are carried during their funeral procession in Jenin. Pics/AFP

Overnight Israeli airstrikes in central Gaza killed at least 18 people, including children, a day after 33 were killed at a United Nations-run school sheltering displaced Palestinian families, health officials said Friday.

Strikes hit the Nuseirat and Maghazi refugee camps and Deir al-Balah and Zawaiyda towns, they said. Four children and one woman were among those killed as well as the mayor of the Nuseirat refugee camp, according to hospital records. Israel's army said Friday it was continuing operations in parts of Central Gaza. It said its troops had killed dozens of militants, located tunnel shafts and destroyed infrastructure in the area.

The bloodied area of the US school where the Israeli strikes were carried out on June 6

The strikes came a day after at least 33 people were killed at a UN-run school in the Nuseirat refugee camp which Israel said was being used as a Hamas compound, without providing evidence. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said they stopped a "ticking time bomb".

"We are operating against Hamas, that is, using UNRWA facilities. In the last months alone, Hamas waged war on schools and hospitals. Hamas hopes that international law and public sympathy will provide a shield for their military activities, which is why they systematically operate from schools, UN facilities, hospitals, and mosques," Hagari said.

He said that the IDF conducted a "precise, intelligence-based strike that targeted dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists hiding inside a UN school in Gaza," adding that some of these were also involved in the Hamas massacre of October 7.

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