The school in Dayr al-Balah is said to have housed people who were forced to flee due to the war – thousands according to local reports.
The Palestinian Red Crescent reports 28 dead and over 50 injured. The death toll is confirmed by al-Aqsa Hospital and an AP reporter who counted the bodies on site. Many bodies arrived at the hospital in pieces, according to the reporter.
Among the dead are, according to reports, women and children. Several media outlets, including Qatar-based Al Jazeera, describe chaotic scenes at the hospital: children with severe burns, injured people lying on the floor. In one image from the hospital, a young boy is seen screaming in pain on the stone floor, and in other images, a bloody girl is seen stretching out her burned hands towards a nurse.
Lack of Equipment
Doctors say that there is a lack of both space and equipment for the large number of victims arriving.
Israel accuses Hamas, which rules in Gaza, of hiding among civilians in the building. The military claims to have taken several measures to minimize the risks for civilians before the attack, reports Israeli Haaretz.
According to witnesses who spoke to AP, there was a Hamas-controlled police station responsible for security at the site, but no police were present when the attack occurred.
Second Dose of Polio Vaccine
On Thursday, Unicef announced that it has agreed on "area-specific humanitarian pauses" in Gaza to enable a second round of polio vaccinations.
"It is crucial that these pauses are respected by all parties. Without them, it is impossible to vaccinate the children," writes Unicef chief Catherine Russell in a post on X, adding that the effort is targeting 590,000 children under the age of ten.
Israel has not yet commented on Unicef's reports, reports The Times of Israel.
After the first confirmed polio case in Gaza in 25 years, the first phase of the large-scale vaccination effort began in September.
