At least 24 Palestinians have been killed in two separate Israeli airstrikes overnight, including one that hit a school sheltering displaced families in central Gaza, medics and Civil Defence officials said Monday.
Fahmi Al-Jargawi School in Gaza City, which had been serving as a refuge for hundreds fleeing the Israeli offensive in Beit Lahia, was struck late Sunday. According to Gaza’s Hamas-run Civil Defence, 20 bodies, many of them severely burned, were recovered from the site, including children. Two classrooms converted into living quarters were engulfed in flames following the strike.
“Flames were everywhere. I saw charred bodies lying on the ground,” said Rami Rafiq, a local resident who witnessed the aftermath. “My son fainted when he saw the horrific scene.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the strike, claiming it had targeted what it called “a Hamas and Islamic Jihad command and control centre” allegedly used for planning attacks on Israeli civilians and military forces. The IDF reiterated its accusation that Hamas uses civilians as human shields.
Video footage circulating online showed fire consuming parts of the school and graphic images of severely burned victims, prompting renewed international concern about the escalating civilian toll.
Among the dead, local reports identified Mohammad Al-Kasih, head of investigations for Hamas police in northern Gaza, along with his wife and children. Prior to the school strike, another Israeli airstrike on a residential home in central Gaza City killed four additional people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The strikes are part of a broader Israeli military campaign that has intensified in northern Gaza over the past week. The ongoing war, triggered by Hamas’s cross-border attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which left 1,200 Israelis dead and 251 kidnapped, has since claimed the lives of at least 53,939 Palestinians, including more than 16,500 children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
On Friday, a separate Israeli strike killed nine of Dr. Alaa al-Najjar’s ten children in Gaza. Her husband, Hamdi al-Najjar, remains in critical condition. The IDF has said it is reviewing the incident.
In another tragic development, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported that two of its staff were killed Saturday in Khan Younis, further underscoring the risks to humanitarian workers. “This points to the intolerable civilian death toll in Gaza,” the ICRC said, renewing its call for a ceasefire.
Amid mounting global pressure, 20 countries and international bodies met in Madrid on Sunday to explore options for ending the war. Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares urged an arms embargo on Israel should it fail to halt its military actions.
While Israel has recently eased its 11-week blockade on Gaza, allowing 388 aid trucks in since Monday, the United Nations insists that at least 500–600 trucks are needed daily to meet urgent humanitarian needs. The head of a controversial U.S.- and Israeli-backed aid group resigned Sunday, citing failure to uphold neutrality and independence in aid distribution.
As the crisis deepens, the situation for civilians in Gaza remains dire, with no clear resolution in sight.
Written By Rodney Mbua
