At least 29 people have been killed after Israel carried out an airstrike on a bomb shelter near Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, on July 9 (Singapore time).
According to ReutersAccording to Palestinian authorities, the attack took place outside a school in the town of Abassan al-Kabira, as displaced Gazans were watching a soccer match.
People played and watched football
53 others were also injured in the airstrike on Al-Awdah school, which is also a shelter, it said. Al Jazeera.
In footage obtained by Al Jazeerayoung Palestinians were seen playing football in the schoolyard as spectators looked on.
They fled when a loud explosion occurred.
Towards the end of the clip, bodies and debris could be seen strewn across the area as a result of the attack.
Everything was “normal” and the attack was “sudden”
Ghazzal Nasser, a young woman who spoke with Reuters in Abassan, said the situation before the incident seemed “normal”.
She noticed that there were also people buying and selling food and drink.
“There was no noise from planes or anything like that,” she added.
Another woman who spoke to Reuters, Asmaa Qudeih said that the rocket suddenly hit the area while it was full of people. She also said that her family members were killed by the airstrike.
Asmaa added that she saw bodies and body parts flying through the air when it happened.
A Palestinian boy who spoke with Al Jazeera said he lost his uncle, cousins and other relatives in the airstrike.
Airstrike took place during ceasefire negotiations
The Israel Defense Force (IDF) said it was investigating reports of civilian casualties as a result of the attack, Al Jazeera reported.
The IDF said it used “precise munitions” to target a terrorist from the military wing of Hamas who took part in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. BBC reported.
The strike at Al-Awdah School was condemned by the European Union and Germany.
Israel carried out an airstrike on another school in Gaza last week.
On July 9 (Singapore time), the Israeli military reported targeting Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives (referring to a specific group, not a generic term) in another airstrike in Nuseirat, sources said. The Times of Israel.
The BBC reported that at least 16 people were killed in the airstrike on the Al-Jaouni school in Nuseirat.
The IDF said it had taken “numerous steps” to “mitigate the risk of harm to civilians, including the use of close aerial surveillance and additional intelligence,” BBC reported.
According to the IDF, Hamas militants used the site as a “hideout” to carry out attacks on IDF forces and Hamas continued to “exploit civilian buildings and the civilian population as human shields” for its terror attacks.
Ceasefire talks
The attacks came amid intense ceasefire negotiations.
US CIA director William Burns and Israeli Mossad chief David Barnea are expected to meet on July 10.
According to the English-language newspaper Saudi Arabia, Burns met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Cairo on July 9 for a separate ceasefire discussion. Arabic news.
The talks were organized after Hamas demanded that Israel commit to ending the war before signing a ceasefire agreement.
More than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began on October 7, 2023, according to local health officials.
Top photo via UNRWA/Facebook
