Palestinians say Israeli strike killed 22 in shelter, army says it targeted militants
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The Gaza health ministry said most of those killed were women and children who were in a school sheltering displaced people in southern Gaza City.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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CAIRO - Palestinians said an Israeli strike killed at least 22 people in a school sheltering displaced people in southern Gaza City on Sept 21, while the Israeli military said the attack targeted a Hamas command centre.
The Gaza health ministry said most of those killed were women and children. The Hamas-run government media office said 13 children, including a three-month-old baby, and six women were among the dead.
The Israeli military said it hit a Hamas command centre embedded in the compound that previously served as a school, repeating its accusation that Hamas uses civilian facilities for military purposes - a charge which Hamas denies.
Reuters footage from the site showed blasted walls, wrecked and burnt furniture, and holes in the ceiling of one room as people tried to salvage what they could of their belongings.
“The women and their children were sitting in the playground of the school, the kids were playing, and suddenly two rockets hit them,” said witness Said Al-Malahi.
Some of the dead were wrapped in blankets and carried away on donkey carts, as ambulances transferred other bodies.
“I couldn’t take it, I did not see a single man that is injured, it was all women and children, let the Arab countries rejoice, let them rejoice and clap for (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and the United States of America,” said another eyewitness Ahmed Azzam, bitter that regional neighbours were not taking a tougher line against Israel.
Medics killed
In Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, the Gaza health ministry said four health workers were killed by an Israeli strike that hit ministry warehouses. Ambulance crews could not reach the dead or treat the wounded, it added.
In a statement on Sept 21, the Israeli military said forces, operating in Rafah since May, have killed dozens of militants in recent weeks and dismantled military infrastructure and tunnel shafts.
Israel's demand to keep control of the southern border line between Rafah and Egypt has been a major sticking point in international efforts to conclude a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas says it is focused on an agreement to end the war and get Israeli forces out of Gaza, while Israel says the war can end only once Hamas is eradicated. Another sticking point has been the specifics of an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
This war in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, during which 1,200 people were killed, and about 250 taken as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's subsequent assault on the Hamas-governed enclave has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, and displaced nearly the entire 2.3 million-strong population. REUTERS
