Israel pounds Gaza refugee camp as war enters ninth month

Israeli strikes hammered a Gaza refugee camp on Friday after a deadly strike on a U.N.-run school, as the war sparked by Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel entered its ninth month.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands, laid waste to much of the Gaza Strip, uprooted most of its 2.4 million population and put them at risk of starvation.

Diplomatic efforts to mediate the first ceasefire since a week-long pause in November appear to have stalled, only a week after U.S. President Joe Biden offered a new three-stage roadmap.

Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, has yet to respond to Biden's proposal. Israel has expressed openness to discussions while insisting on pursuing its war aim of destroying the Hamas.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza said at least 37 people were killed in Thursday's Israeli strike on the U.N.-run school in Nuseirat camp.

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said hundreds of displaced Palestinians had been sheltering at the school which was "hit without prior warning."

U.N. Secretary-General chief Antonio Guterres described the strike as "another horrific example of the price that civilians are paying."

  Strikes across Gaza 

The United States, which provides Israel with $3.8 billion in annual military aid, urged its ally to be "fully" transparent about the strike.

"The government of Israel has said that they are going to release more information about this strike, including the names of those who died in it. We expect them to be fully transparent in making that information public," said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

Israel accuses Hamas and its allies in Gaza of...