al jazeera

By Lyndal Rowlands and Alastair Mccready
   At least 32 people have been reported killed and dozens injured in an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The Israeli military has confirmed that its fighter jets targeted an UNRWA school in the area.

    A permanent end to the war on Gaza and full Israeli troop withdrawal is necessary for Hamas to agree to the latest ceasefire proposal, its leader says. Israel’s defence chief says there will not be a halt in fighting during negotiations.

    More than one million Palestinians in Gaza could experience the highest level of starvation by the middle of next month if hostilities continue, UN agencies warn.

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is “prepared for a very intense operation” along its border with Lebanon where Israeli troops have exchanged near-daily fire with Hezbollah fighters for almost eight months.

    At least 36,586 people have been killed and 83,074 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s attacks is at least 1,139 with dozens of people still held captive in Gaza.

    Don’t let the occupied West Bank ‘become another Gaza’, says UN official

    Muhannad Hadi, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for the Middle East peace process, has said Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are facing increasing violence and pressure and “must be supported” in order to stop the territory becoming “another Gaza”.

    More than 500 Palestinians have been killed across the West Bank since October and thousands have been displaced,” Hadi said in a post on social media.

    “Houses have been demolished. Infrastructure has been destroyed. Health facilities attacked. People here are suffering. Women and children are being harassed. People have no access to clean water. No more access to education or health facilities,” Hadi said, though failed to mention the role of Israeli forces and illegal settlers in the violence against Palestinians.

    “All eyes are on Gaza. But the situation in the West Bank is volatile. This must stop,” he said.

    Government media office rejects claim Hamas fighters were using Nuseirat shelter

    In response to Israel’s claim that its attack on a shelter in Nuseirat refugee camp was targeting Hamas fighters, Gaza government media office spokesman Ismail al-Thawabta told Reuters:

    Israel is using “false fabricated stories to justify the brutal crime it conducted against dozens of displaced people.”

    Israel has openly attacked UNRWA shelters in Gaza multiple times

    Israel’s latest attack on an UNWRA school in the Nuseirat refugee camp is far from the first time that Israel has targeted a building run by the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees during its war on Gaza.

    Here are some details:

•     An estimated 455 internally displaced people have been killed while sheltering at UNRWA facilities in Gaza since October, according to UNRWA’s most recent situation report.
•     In the Nuseirat refugee camp, UNRWA schools have been targeted repeatedly.
•     Seven people were killed when a school-turned-UNRWA shelter was targeted three times between April 11 and 13, the agency said.
•     There have been 430 incidents targeting 186 UNRWA premises since October, with many buildings targeted multiple times by Israeli forces.
•     UNRWA ran 183 schools in Gaza before Israel’s war on the territory. Those schools were converted into shelters after the start of the war in October, with approximately one million people seeking refuge in school buildings in the early months of the war.

    Death toll from Israeli strike on school in Nuseirat rises

    At least 32 people are now confirmed dead following an Israeli air strike on a school sheltering displaced people in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to the Wafa news agency.

    Earlier, we reported that the Israeli military confirmed it had bombed an UNRWA school, which was serving as a shelter for thousands of displaced people in Nuseirat, with women and children among the dead.

    The Israeli military claims it was targeting Hamas fighters sheltering in the building.

    We will bring you further updates on this story when we have them.