Israel’s push in central Gaza Strip targets Hamas fighters
The Israeli military pushed ahead with its offensive in the central Gaza Strip on Friday, saying it had killed dozens of militants, including some who had holed up in the premises of a former United Nations school that had been converted into a shelter in the area.
The military said it targeted Hamas fighters at a school compound in Shati, a coastal neighborhood northwest of Gaza City’s downtown. The number of casualties was unclear.
“Hamas systematically, intentionally and strategically places its infrastructure and operates from within civilian areas in full violation of international law and while putting the lives of Gazan civilians at risk,” the Israeli military said in a statement after the strike.
Friday’s attack occurred a day after a strike on a similar school complex nearby in Nuseirat, where displaced civilians had taken shelter. Gaza health authorities said women and children were among those killed in that strike.
Israel on Friday offered a full-throated defense of Thursday’s raid, saying that its forces had targeted 20 to 30 militants who it said were using three classrooms in the former school as a base.
The number and identities of those killed in Nuseirat on Thursday remained disputed. Varying figures have been provided by the Gaza Ministry of Health and officials at a hospital where victims were taken. And an assessment by the Israeli military offered a third account.
The death tolls in all of these attacks could not be independently confirmed.
With 36,000 people killed in Gaza during the war between Israel and Hamas, according to Gaza health officials, the United Nations on Friday announced that it was putting Israel on a global list of offenders that commit violations harmful to children. Hamas was also on the list.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel condemned the report, saying in a statement that the country’s military “is the most moral army in the world, and no delusional decision by the U.N. will change that.”
Israeli troops also continued their offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Friday, where the military has seized much of the area bordering Egypt. The military said it was carrying out “intelligence-based, targeted operations,” without providing further details.
The fighting came as U.S. officials kept pressing for a cease-fire. The State Department announced Friday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken would travel next week to Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Qatar to push for a deal.
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