Israeli Air Strikes Kill Dozens at Gaza City School Shelter and Jabalia Home

Israeli air strikes hit a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City’s Daraj neighborhood and a separate home in Jabalia Al-Balad, killing dozens of Palestinians, according to multiple reports.

“Dozens of Palestinians were martyred today, Monday, in an Israeli bombardment that targeted a school sheltering displaced people and a house belonging to a Palestinian family in the Gaza Strip”

Al-Jazeera Net

Al Jazeera said the death toll from the dawn attack on Fahmi al-Jargawi School rose to 36, and it reported that “six children were among the martyrs” of the bombing.

Al-Jazeera Net

The same Al Jazeera correspondent said the bodies of “19 martyrs” arrived after an Israeli bombing targeted a house in Jabalia Al-Balad, while it also reported a Palestinian killed and others injured after an Israeli drone strike on a nursery sheltering displaced people in the Maghazi camp.

France 24 reported that the territory’s health ministry said the school-turned-shelter strike killed “at least 36 people,” mostly women and children, and it said a separate strike on a home killed “19 members of the same family.”

The BBC said hospital directors told it that “At least 54 Palestinians have been killed” during Israeli air strikes overnight, with “most of them in a school building sheltering displaced families,” and it reported that “At least 35 were reported to have been killed when the school was hit.”

Reuters figures cited by the BBC and the Independent also placed the school strike death toll in the “at least 36” range, while the Independent described “at least 36 killed” at the school and said the military continued attacks across multiple areas.

In Gaza City, Reuters footage described men, women and children “sifting through the rubble” of the Daraj neighborhood school, and the BBC reported that the fires engulfed classrooms used as living quarters.

While Palestinian health officials and rescuers described mass casualties at the school, the Israeli military framed the strikes as targeting command-and-control infrastructure used by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

France 24 reported that “The military said it targeted a militant command and control center inside the school that Hamas and Islamic Jihad used to gather intelligence for attacks,” and it added that “Israel blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it operates in residential areas.”

BBC

The BBC similarly said the IDF told it it had targeted “a Hamas and Islamic Jihad command and control centre” and accused Hamas of using “the Gazan population as human shields.”

The BBC also included on-scene testimony from Faris Afana, the Northern Gaza ambulance service manager, who said, “There were sleeping children and women in those classrooms,” and added, “Some of them were screaming but we couldn't rescue them due to the fires.”

The BBC reported that Gaza’s Hamas-run Civil Defence said multiple bodies, including those of children, were recovered after fires engulfed two classrooms serving as living quarters.

In parallel, France 24 quoted Fahmy Awad, head of the ministry’s emergency service, saying the school was hit “three times while people slept,” and it reported that Awad said “A father and his five children were among the dead.”

The Independent likewise said the military targeted “a militant command and control centre inside the school that Hamas and Islamic Jihad used to gather intelligence for attacks,” and it repeated Israel’s explanation that “Israel blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it operates in residential areas.”

Beyond the strikes, the sources describe ongoing mediation efforts and continued rocket activity alongside the bombardment.

“Israeli PM condemns Canada-France-U”

CBC

The BBC reported that a senior Hamas official told it on Monday that the group had agreed to the latest ceasefire proposal offered by US special envoy Steve Witkoff, while Witkoff told Reuters that what he had seen was “completely unacceptable” and that the proposal being discussed was not the same as his.

The BBC said a Palestinian official familiar with the talks described a plan agreed to by Hamas that includes “the release of 10 Israeli hostages held by the group in two phases,” in exchange for “a 70-day truce,” “a gradual partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza,” and “the release of an agreed number of Palestinian prisoners.”

The Independent also reported that Hamas had agreed to a proposal by US special envoy Steve Witkoff for a Gaza ceasefire, and it said the proposal “sees the release of 10 hostages and 70 days of truce” and “a partial withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.”

Al Jazeera’s report on Monday’s attacks included Israeli claims about rocket fire, saying the Israeli occupation army “said it detected three rockets fired from the southern Gaza Strip toward border areas,” and that “one of the rockets was intercepted before entering the airspace of the adjacent Israeli areas.”

Al Jazeera added that “eight rockets were fired from Gaza during the week,” and it described a “new wave of air raids” targeting areas from Beit Lahia in the north to Khan Younis in the south.

The BBC further noted that the twin attacks were part of a broader Israeli offensive that had escalated in the northern part of the enclave over the past week, and it said the IDF hit “200 targets across Gaza in 48 hours.”

The school strike and related attacks drew international condemnation and renewed calls for sanctions and expanded humanitarian access, with the sources also detailing aid delivery constraints.

France 24 said Spain called on Sunday for sanctions against Israel to stop its “inhumane” and “senseless” war on Gaza, quoting Spain’s foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares telling reporters before talks opened in Madrid that the aim was to stop Israel’s “inhumane” and “senseless” war in Gaza.

France 24

France 24 also quoted Albares saying humanitarian aid must enter Gaza “massively, without conditions and without limits, and not controlled by Israel,” and it described the territory as humanity’s “open wound.”

The BBC reported that “20 countries and organisations met in Madrid on Sunday to discuss ending the war in Gaza,” and it said Albares called for an arms embargo on Israel if it did not stop its attacks.

CBC reported that the United Nations said Gaza, with a population of about 2.3 million, needs at least 500 trucks of aid and commercial goods every day, and it said the UN had received permission from Israel for about 100 more aid trucks to enter Gaza on Tuesday, while “On Monday, only five aid trucks entered Gaza.”

CBC also quoted Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office, saying, “The next step is to collect them, and then they will be distributed through the existing system,” and it said those trucks contained “baby food and nutritional products for children.”

The Independent and Al Jazeera both described the scale of displacement and the broader humanitarian toll, with Al Jazeera stating that with American support, Israel has been committing acts of genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving “more than 175,000 Palestinians dead or wounded” and “more than 11,000 missing.”

The sources also describe a broader escalation across Gaza, including additional strikes that killed rescue officials and journalists, and they connect the violence to the struggle over aid access and ceasefire implementation.

“Israel’s latest attacks on Gaza killed 55 people and injured dozens, according to local health officials, as the military continued its onslaught on the besieged Palestinian territory”

The Independent

The Independent reported that Israel’s latest attacks killed “55 people and injured dozens,” and it said children were among those killed as Israeli forces targeted a school housing displaced people in the Daraj neighbourhood of Gaza City on Sunday, adding that “A father and his five children were among those killed.”

The Independent

It also reported that “a senior rescue service official and a journalist were killed in separate strikes on Khan Younis in the south, Jabalia in the north and Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip,” naming journalist Hassan Majdi Abu Warda and saying his death took the number of Palestinian journalists killed in Israel’s war on Gaza to “220, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run strip.”

CBC reported that Israeli airstrikes killed at least 55 Palestinians on Tuesday, with local medics saying the attacks were carried out on two homes and a school housing displaced families, and it said Israel’s military had warned those in Khan Younis to evacuate to the coast as it prepared for an “unprecedented attack.”

The BBC reported that the ICRC said “two of its staff were killed” in a strike on their home in Khan Younis, and it said the killing of Ibrahim Eid and Ahmad Abu Hilal “points to the intolerable civilian death toll in Gaza,” repeating its call for a ceasefire.

The BBC also described the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, with a statement by executive director Jake Wood saying it had become apparent that plans to set up distribution hubs would not meet the “humanitarian principles” of independence and neutrality.

CBC said a newly created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aims to start work in Gaza by the end of May, and it reported that the UN had permission for about 100 more aid trucks to enter Gaza on Tuesday.