Gaza鈥檚 civil defence agency said an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter killed at least 12 people on Tuesday, while the Israeli military said it struck a Hamas command centre.
鈥極ur crews retrieved 12 martyrs from the Mustafa Hafiz school, which was bombed by the Israeli occupation west of Gaza City,鈥� agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said.
Thousands of displaced Palestinians had sought refuge in the school, he said, amid the on-going Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said the school was targeted because it housed a command-and-control centre.
鈥楬amas terrorists used the command-and-control centre to plan and execute attacks against IDF (Israeli army) troops and the State of Israel,鈥� the military said in a statement.
It said it carried out a 鈥榩recise strike on terrorists who were operating鈥� inside the school.
Bassal had earlier given a toll of seven dead and 15 wounded in the strike, which he said had hit the second floor of the school building.
AFP photos showed the school reduced to rubble, with scores of Palestinian men and women, many holding children, fleeing the site after the strike.
In recent weeks, the Israeli military has struck several schools across Gaza, primarily in Gaza City, accusing them of housing Hamas command centres, which the Islamist group denies.
Earlier this month, the military had struck the Al-Tabieen School in Gaza City, which according to the civil defence agency killed 93 Palestinians, while the military said 31 militants died.
Tens of thousands of displaced people have taken refuge in schools since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7 after Palestinian militants attacked southern Israel.
That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants also seized 251 people, 105 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.
Israel鈥檚 retaliatory military offensive against Hamas has killed at least 40,173 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory鈥檚 health ministry, which does not give a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.
Most of the dead in Gaza are women and children, according to the UN human rights office.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza and a Palestinian news site said Monday that a journalist was killed by Israeli fire the previous day in the south of the territory.
鈥業brahim Muharab鈥檚 body was taken to Nasser Hospital鈥�, in the southern city of Khan Yunis Monday, the ministry said.
Palestinian Daily News, a website for which Muharab worked, announced his death 鈥榝ollowing shelling from the Israeli occupation on him and a group of journalists鈥�.
It added that Muharab鈥檚 body was found on Monday morning in Hamad City, a large apartment complex built by Qatar and now in ruins.
Two other journalists who were with Muharab at the time were wounded and sent to Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, an AFP journalist on the ground reported.
Top US diplomat Antony Blinken was in Egypt on Tuesday for talks on a Gaza ceasefire after saying Israel had accepted a US 鈥榖ridging proposal鈥� for a deal and urging Hamas to do the same.
Blinken, on his ninth visit to the Middle East since the Palestinian militant group鈥檚 October 7 attack triggered the war with Israel, flew to El Alamein, the Mediterranean city famous for a World War II battle, and began talks with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at his summer palace.
Afterwards, he will head to a meeting with Qatar鈥檚 emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, in Doha, the scene of ceasefire talks last week.
Both Egypt and Qatar are working alongside the United States to broker a truce in the 10-month Gaza conflict.
Washington put forward the latest proposal last week aimed at after the talks in Doha.
