Gaza's civil defence agency said yesterday an Israeli air strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians killed 93 people, as Israel's military accused Hamas of using the building as a command centre.
Hamas denounced the "dangerous escalation" in north Gaza, which came after international mediators invited the warring sides to resume next Thursday talks towards a long-sought ceasefire and hostage-release deal.
Israel's military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 39,790 people, according to Gaza's health ministry.
Jordan's foreign ministry said the timing of the school strike "is an indication of the Israeli government's efforts to obstruct and thwart these efforts."
Civil defence in the Hamas-ruled territory said three Israeli missiles hit the school in Gaza City while people performed dawn prayers.
"Their bodies were torn apart," civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP. "It reminds us of the first days of the war in the Gaza Strip."
With most of Gaza's 2.4 million people displaced, many have sought refuge in school buildings, which have been hit at least 14 times since July 6, according to an AFP tally.
Israel's army said yesterday it had "precisely struck Hamas terrorists operating within a Hamas command and control centre embedded in the Al-Tabieen school."
The military has repeatedly made similar accusations after strikes on the school shelters. Hamas has previously denied Israeli claims that it uses schools, hospitals and other civilian facilities for military aims.
Bodies and blood
AFPTV live images from the scene showed a large complex with a courtyard where debris lay inside and out. Part of the structure appeared to be a mosque, the upper story of which was partially blown out and charred.
Images showed white-shrouded bodies, blood stains on the ground, and smoke rising from the rubble.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and in January the military said it had dismantled the group's command structure in northern Gaza. But the military has since found itself returning there and to other areas of the territory to battle fighters again.
Iran has accused Israel of wanting to spread war in the Middle East, and Hamas officials, some analysts and critics in Israel have said Netanyahu has prolonged the fighting.
However, Netanyahu's office on Thursday said Israel would send negotiators "to conclude the details of implementing a deal," after the joint invitation from mediators the United States, Qatar and Egypt.
The mediators' invitation followed intense diplomacy aimed at averting a region-wide conflagration.
In a joint statement Thursday, the three countries' leaders invited the warring parties to resume talks on August 15 in Doha or Cairo "to close all remaining gaps and commence implementation of the deal without further delay."
Recent discussions have focused on a framework outlined by US President Joe Biden in late May and later endorsed by the UN Security Council.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, in talks with his US counterpart Lloyd Austin, "raised the importance of swiftly achieving" a hostage release deal, Gallant's office said.
European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said on social media platform X: "We need a ceasefire in Gaza now" and expressed strong support for the mediators' efforts.
Engulfed by fire
Yesterday's strike in north Gaza came after the military on Friday said troops were operating around Khan Yunis, the southern Gaza city from which soldiers had withdrawn in April after months of fierce fighting with Hamas.
The Gaza war has already drawn in Iran-aligned groups around the region. Fears of a broader Middle East war have surged following vows of vengeance from Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, Hamas, Iran and others for the killing of two senior fighters, including Hamas's political leader.
The killing last week of Hamas's Ismail Haniyeh during a visit to Tehran had sidelined truce talks. Iran and Hamas blamed Israel, which has not directly commented.
Iran's mission to the United Nations yesterday said the Islamic republic has "the legitimate right to self-defence" after its sovereignty was "violated."
"However, we hope that our response will be timed and conducted in a manner not to the detriment of the potential ceasefire," it said.
Haniyeh's death came hours after an Israeli strike on south Beirut killed Fuad Shukr, the military chief of Hezbollah. Israel said this was in response to rocket fire that killed children and teens in the annexed Golan Heights.
Hamas ally Hezbollah has been trading near-daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces.
On Friday an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the south Lebanon city of Sidon killed a Hamas commander, the Palestinian group and the Israeli military said.
AFPTV images showed the car engulfed by fire. It was the first strike of its kind in Sidon during the Gaza war.
'Genocide'
An independent, UN-appointed rights expert accused Israel of committing “genocide” in its Gaza war after the Israeli strike.
“Israel is genociding the Palestinians one neighbourhood at the time, one hospital at the time, one school at the time, one refugee camp at the time, one safe zone at the time,” Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories, said on social media platform X.
Israel was carrying out such strikes against Palestinians using “US and European weapons,” Albanese said.
“May the Palestinians forgive us for our collective inability to protect them,” she added.
In a report issued in March, Albanese said there were “reasonable grounds” to determine that Israel had committed several acts of “genocide” in its war in Gaza.
Israel, which has long been highly critical of Albanese and her mandate, denounced her report as an “obscene inversion of reality.”
Special rapporteurs are appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council but do not speak on behalf of the UN.
