Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a UNRWA school in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, yesterday.
Palestinians check a UN-school housing displaced people that was hit during Israeli bombardment in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, yesterday
A member of the United Nations checks a UN-school that was hit during Israeli bombardment in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, yesterday
A Palestinian boy stands in a destroyed room of a UN-school that was hit during Israeli bombardment in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, yesterday
Palestinians watch smoke billowing following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip yesterday
A Gaza hospital said at least 37 people were killed in an Israeli strike yesterday on a UN-run school.
Video footage showed Palestinians hauling away bodies and scores of injured in a local hospital after the attack, which took place at a sensitive moment in mediated talks on a ceasefire that would involve releasing hostages held by Palestinian resistance movement Hamas and many of the Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
The United States issued a joint statement with other countries calling on Israel and Hamas to make whatever compromises were necessary to finalise a deal after eight months of war in the Gaza Strip. Ismail Al-Thawabta, the director of the Hamas-run government media office, rejected Israel's assertion that the UN school in Nuseirat, in central Gaza, had hidden a Hamas command post.
Washington said it expected Israel to be fully transparent in making information about the strike public.
The school, run by the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), was sheltering 6,000 displaced people at the time, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said.
The United Nations condemned the "horrific, tragic" attack.
The building was once used as a school, but with no schools now operating in Gaza it was being used as a shelter, he added.
The bombing took place in a central part of Gaza where Israel announced a new military campaign on Wednesday. It says there will be no halt to fighting during ceasefire talks, which have intensified since US President Joe Biden outlined a proposal for a truce on Friday.
Hamas seeks a permanent end to the war.
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Egypt gets 'positive
signs' from Hamas
on Gaza ceasefire
Egypt has received encouraging signals from Hamas over a potential Gaza truce and hostage-prisoner swap with Israel, state-linked Al-Qahera News said yesterday, citing a high-level source.
Cairo has been engaged along with fellow mediators Doha and Washington in months of negotiations for a ceasefire aimed at ending the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
"Hamas leaders have informed us that they are studying the truce proposal seriously and positively," Al-Qahera quoted the source as saying.
The source, who was not named, said the Palestinian militant group was expected to respond to the proposal in the coming days.
Egypt, which invited Hamas leaders to negotiations in Cairo, had "received positive signs from the Palestinian movement signalling its aspiration for a ceasefire", the source added.
