A wounded man consoles his daughter after several of his family members were killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike. Photo: Eyad BABA / AFP.
Over 90 people lost their lives early Saturday when Israeli warplanes struck Gaza, leaving body parts scattered among the rubble.
The triple airstrike during dawn prayers hit the Al-Tabieen religious school and mosque in Gaza City. The aftermath saw charred, bloodied bodies amid the wreckage of the two-story building, which was sheltering displaced Palestinians.
Volunteers, with grim expressions, loaded corpses wrapped in blood-soaked blankets into ambulances, while severely injured men lay groaning on the ground.
Gaza’s civil defense agency reported that at least 93 people were killed, including 17 women and children, marking it as one of the deadliest strikes of the conflict.
Israel Claims Precision
The Israeli military contested the reported death toll, asserting that the school was targeted with “precision munitions” because it was being used as an “active Hamas and Islamic Jihad military facility.”
The military stated that “numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and intelligence information.”
Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nadav Shoshani added that approximately 20 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants were operating from the Al-Tabieen complex. He claimed, “The compound, including the mosque within it, served as an active Hamas and Islamic Jihad military facility,” in a post on X.
However, Hamas has previously denied Israeli accusations of using schools, hospitals, and other civilian facilities for military purposes.
The Islamic Jihad group, which fights alongside Hamas, stated that the strike occurred “during the dawn prayer.”
Ismail al-Thawabta, the director general of Gaza’s government media office, told AFP that the strike resulted in “more than 100 martyrs and dozens of injuries, most of which are severe and critical.”
Gaza government media sources reported that the school was housing around 250 people, half of whom were women and children.
‘They Were Just Praying’
Such incidents have become increasingly frequent in recent weeks.
According to AFP, at least 14 schools sheltering Gaza’s displaced have been hit since July 6, resulting in over 280 deaths.
“Peaceful people—women, children, and youths—were performing the Fajr prayer as usual when suddenly a missile hit them,” said Abu Wassim, a nearby resident who came to assess the devastation.
