At least 25 people were killed and many others were injured when an Israeli airstrike hit a school near Gaza’s Khan Younis on Tuesday. The explosion occurred outside the Al-Awda school in Abasan, where dozens had gathered for a football match.
In the now-viral video obtained by Aljazeera, kids can be seen playing football in the school’s yard with spectators surrounding them when a bomb hits the premises.
Watch the video here:
As per reports, the Israeli army, soon after the video of the strike surfaced on social media, said the airstrike near the school and reports of civilian casualties were under review, and claimed it was targeting a Hamas militant who took part in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. However, the Israeli army provided no evidence to support its claims.
There have been many similar incidents in the past when children and women were hit with missiles and the Israeli army stated that it was targeting an individual Hamas terrorist.
Israeli airstrikes early Wednesday killed 25 Palestinians in central Gaza, including six children and three women, some of them inside a purported "safe zone" declared by the Israeli military, hospital authorities said.
These attacks come as Hamas warns that the intensified Israeli offensive could jeopardize ongoing mediated ceasefire talks, which are scheduled to resume in Doha, Qatar.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, the Israeli military dropped leaflets ordering all Palestinians to evacuate from Gaza City, the largest city in the besieged territory.
Israel has been fighting in several outlying neighbourhoods in recent days, sending thousands of Palestinians fleeing. Hamas militants have been regrouping in areas that Israel targeted in the earliest weeks of the war.
Since October, Israel's conflict in Gaza has resulted in at least 38,243 deaths and 88,243 injuries. The death toll in Israel from the Hamas-led attacks on October 7 stands at approximately 1,139, with many still held captive in Gaza.
