At least 16 people have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a school building in the Gaza Strip yesterday. Officials said that more than 50 were also wounded in the attack. According to the Hamas-run health ministry, the building was sheltering thousands of displaced people. Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that the Air Force struck several terrorists operating in structures located in the area of UNRWA’s Al-Jaouni School in central Gaza. The location served as both a hideout and operational infrastructure from which attacks against IDF troops operating in Gaza were directed and carried out, it added.

 

The IDF further said that numerous steps were taken prior to the strike in order to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise aerial surveillance and additional intelligence. It also accused Hamas of systematically violating international law by exploiting civilian structures and the civilian population as human shields for its terrorist attacks against Israel.