Deadly strike hits Gaza school as heavy battles displace Palestinians

A deadly strike hit a school turned shelter in southern Gaza on Tuesday as Israeli forces in the war-ravaged territory's main city pushed on with a major offensive that has again displaced Palestinians.

A hospital source in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza said at least 29 people were killed when the school was hit in nearby Abasan.

Three previous Israeli strikes since Saturday on schools across Gaza used by displaced Palestinians have killed a total of at least 20 people, according to officials and rescuers.

In the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli troops, tanks and fighter jets swooped on Gaza City on the eve of new contacts in Qatar aiming for an eventual hostage-prisoner exchange and a truce in the war, raging into its 10th month.

CIA director William Burns and Israel's Mossad chief David Barnea are due to travel to Qatar on Wednesday, after Burns held talks with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo.

Hamas, whose Oct. 7 attack triggered the war, has softened a key demand and accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of deliberately escalating fighting to thwart an agreement.

The Islamist group's Qatar-based political chief Ismail Haniyeh said he had warned mediators that the "catastrophic consequences" of the latest battles could "reset the negotiation process".

Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, described the latest fighting in Gaza City as "the most intense in months".

The United Nations said tens of thousands of civilians have been affected by the surge in fighting since the first of three evacuation orders for Gaza City was declared on June 27.

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, said that "we have around 350,000 people again on...