CNN
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At least 93 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack on a school and mosque sheltering displaced people in Gaza, local officials said.
Gaza Civil Defense reported that it struck al-Tabi’s compound in the al-Taraj neighborhood in the eastern part of Gaza City as people were performing dawn prayers overnight on Saturday. Israel confirmed that Hamas carried out the attack.
“We have rescued at least 90 people who were killed,” Gaza civil defense spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told CNN, adding that “many of them have been dismembered, and many are still unidentified.”
Videos seen by CNN after the strike showed dozens of bodies scattered on the ground. Eyewitnesses said there was no prior warning of the attack.
“All these people are targeted, civilians, unarmed children, the elderly, men and women,” said Fares Afana, director of ambulances and emergencies in northern Gaza.
“Where are these innocent people who were praying… in the whole world?” said a man who lost his daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren in the strike.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed to CNN that it had struck the compound, saying its air force had targeted Hamas terrorists inside the building’s Hamas command and control center.
The military also said that before the airstrikes, “a number of measures were taken to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians, including the use of precision munitions, aerial surveillance and intelligence information”.
After CNN asked the IDF for evidence that the compound housed a command and control center, intelligence said 20 Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters were directed from the building. The IDF also denied the death toll given by Kazan officials. CNN cannot independently verify the statistics.
According to an earlier report by CNN, this is the fifth strike by the Israeli military on a school in Gaza since last Sunday. Earlier this week the UN human rights office said it was “appalled by the continuing pattern” of strikes on schools in Gaza, adding that “such attacks are on the rise,” according to an August 5 report.
Israeli military operations in Gaza have killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians and injured more than 90,000, according to Gaza’s health ministry. According to United Nations figures, as of early July, nearly 2 million people had been displaced in the enclave — nearly its entire population.
Israel launched a military offensive on October 7 after the Hamas terrorist group attacked southern Israel. According to Israeli officials, at least 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas-led attack, and more than 250 were kidnapped.
Basel said many of the dead have yet to be identified while others are seriously injured and have been shifted to hospital.
“Al-Ahli Hospital still has a large amount of body parts and torn bodies,” he said. “Families struggle to identify their children.”
One woman, identified only as Um Ahmed, told CNN she could not find her husband after the strike. “I went to look for my husband and I didn’t see anyone, they were all in pieces,” she said.
Um Ahmed told CNN the mosque was full of young people who were “all torn up and torn apart” after the strike.
“The bodies here are unidentified… they are all severed body parts,” said a man who came to check the school after hearing about the strike during his morning prayers.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the strike and said the US was responsible for it, saying it was “part of the daily atrocities committed by Israeli occupation forces”.
The strike drew international condemnation. Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories, said, “Israel is genocidating Palestinians at that time, a hospital at that time, a hospital at that time, a school at that time, a refugee camp at that time, a ‘safe zone’. time.”
Saturday’s attack followed similar deadly attacks by Israel over the past week.
At least 47 people, including many children, were killed and dozens injured in airstrikes on several school buildings sheltering displaced Palestinians last weekend.
Videos obtained by CNN from the area of last Sunday’s strike — which the IDF said targeted Hamas infrastructure — show extensive destruction and dead bodies at a school. In the videos, doctors and rescuers carry injured children to waiting ambulances.
Palestinian officials told CNN that Israel gave no warning to the public before the airstrikes.
This story has been updated with additional information. Khader al-Zanoun of Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, contributed reporting.
