Israeli strike on Al Fakhoora School in Jabalia kills 15

Palestinians reported a deadly Israeli strike on a Gaza City area school serving as a shelter yesterday.
Witnesses said the strike hit Al Fakhoora School in the Jabalia refugee camp, where thousands of evacuees were living. At least 15 people died and dozens more were wounded, said Mohamed Abu Selmeyah, an official in the health ministry in Gaza.
Juliette Touma, director of communication for the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), confirmed to Reuters that the UN-run school had been hit. She said there were children among the casualties, but that UNRWA had not yet been able to verify the exact death toll.
“At least one strike hit the schoolyard where there were tents for displaced families. Another strike hit inside the school where women were baking bread,” Touma said by phone.
Reuters pictures of the aftermath showed broken furniture and other belongings lying on the ground, patches of blood and people crying.
“People were preparing breakfast, when suddenly bombing started,” one man said in video footage obtained by Reuters.
“I found my two girls, one of them was martyred and her head was hit, the second was wounded in her leg... the other girl as well was wounded with shrapnel.”
The ministry of health in Gaza said another Israeli missile strike killed two women at the door of the Nasser Children Hospital. Several more people were injured, it said.
Israel’s ground forces encircled Gaza City on Thursday after stepping up a bombing campaign.
Gaza health officials said yesterday that more than 9,488 Palestinians have been killed so far in the barbaric Israeli assault.
US Special Envoy David Satterfield said in Amman that between 800,000 to a million people have already moved to the south of the Gaza Strip, while 350,000-400,000 remain in northern Gaza City and its environs. Palestinians were searching in the rubble for survivors of an Israeli airstrike in the southern city of Khan Younis.
“We are steadfast in Gaza, even if only one citizen is left, from there the state will start again,” 65-year old Palestinian Harb al-Barqy said.
BLINKEN HEARS
CEASEFIRE DEMANDS
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati emphasised the urgency of a ceasefire in Gaza when he met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Amman yesterday, Lebanon state news agency said.
Blinken, in turn, emphasised his efforts to halt military operations for humanitarian reasons and to address the issue of prisoners.
Washington has maintained robust military and political support for Israel, while calling on its ally to take steps to avoid civilian deaths and address Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.
AMBULANCE HIT
Gaza health officials had said 15 people were killed in an Israeli air strike on an ambulance on Friday evening that was part of a convoy carrying injured Palestinians at Gaza’s biggest hospital, Al-Shifa.
Israel’s military said it had identified and hit an ambulance “being used by Hamas” and that a number of Hamas fighters were killed.
The Palestinian health ministry challenged Israel to provide proof that the ambulance was carrying Hamas fighters. Israel has accused Hamas of concealing command centres and tunnel entrances in Al-Shifa, something Hamas and the hospital denies.
Gaza’s living conditions, already dire before the fighting, have deteriorated further. Food is scarce, residents have resorted to drinking salty water, medical services are collapsing.
ISRAEL SAYS
NO PAUSE
Hamas has prepared for a protracted war in Gaza and believes it can hold up Israel’s advance long enough to force a ceasefire, two sources close to the organisation’s leadership said. They said it also seeks concessions like the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli hostages. A senior Biden administration official said on Friday the US had “indirect engagement” aimed at freeing the hostages.
Foreign nationals have been leaving Gaza, but the official said Hamas initially conditioned the release of foreigners on wounded Palestinians being able to exit as well.
Hamas official Izzat El Reshiq yesterday urged Arab leaders and people to pressure Israel and the US by cutting diplomatic ties, expelling ambassadors and leveraging oil and economic interests to support the Gaza Strip’s people.Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday and called for a humanitarian pause in fighting that he said would facilitate work to release hostages, allow aid into Gaza but not prevent Israel from continuing its assault.
In a televised address, Netanyahu rejected the idea of a pause unless hostages were freed.