(FILE) Palestinians move among the rubble of destroyed buildings amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, 17 February 2025. EFE/EPA/MOHAMMED SABER

At least 16 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike on Gaza school

Gaza City/Jerusalem, May 12 (EFE).- At least 16 Palestinians, including five children, were killed on Monday in an Israeli airstrike targeting a school sheltering displaced people in northern Gaza, according to medical sources.

Israeli fighter jets struck the Fatima Bint Asad School in the Jabalia refugee camp, also injuring several others.

Since ending a two-month ceasefire on Mar. 18, Israeli forces have carried out several airstrikes on schools housing displaced Gazans.

Additional attacks were reported in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp, where, according to the Palestinian Wafa news agency, Israeli forces bombed a house, killing several people.

In Gaza City, Israeli forces reportedly destroyed several homes in the eastern Al-Tuffah neighborhood, Wafa added.

In a separate statement, Gaza’s health ministry said 29 more people were killed and 94 others injured in Israeli attacks across the Strip on Sunday.

Since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023, at least 52,862 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed, and over 119,650 wounded, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The latest escalation follows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approval on May 5 of a new operational plan to expand Israel’s ground presence in Gaza.

The plan calls for occupying more territory in the besieged enclave and pushing the civilian population further south, an area already largely under Israeli control.

Since resuming ground operations in late March, Israeli forces have seized control of more than one-third of Gaza.

Israel has also begun redeploying additional troops to Gaza and is calling up tens of thousands of reservists, most of whom will be stationed along the Lebanese border and in the occupied West Bank to backfill active-duty units sent to Gaza. EFE

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