Israeli strike on Gaza school sheltering displaced people kills at least 20

Rescuers said an Israeli strike on Monday killed at least 20 people at a Gaza school sheltering displaced people, as Israel stepped up what it calls an offensive to destroy Hamas.

The intensified violence, after a nearly three-month blockade of humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip, has sharpened international condemnation of Israel.

World leaders meeting in Madrid at the weekend called for an end to the “inhumane” and “senseless” war, while humanitarian organisations said the trickle of resumed aid is not nearly enough to staunch the hunger and health crises.

In Gaza City, civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said that “at least 20 martyrs” were transported to hospital, most of them children, and 60 people were wounded in the “horrific occupation massacre at the Fahmi al-Jarjawi school” at dawn, where hundreds of people were sheltering, referring to Israel.

The Israeli military said it had “struck key terrorists who were operating within a Hamas and Islamic Jihad command and control centre embedded in an area that previously served as the ‘Faami Aljerjawi’ School in the Gaza City area”, adding that “numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians”.