Gaza rescuers say 18 killed in Israeli strike on school

Israel bombed a school housing displaced Palestinians in central Gaza, which rescuers said killed 18 people, including U.N. staffers, while the Israeli army said it hit a Hamas control centre.

The Al-Jawni school in Nuseirat had already been bombed several times over the course of the 11-month war in Gaza.

The strike on Wednesday flattened part of the U.N.-run facility where Gazans had sought shelter, leaving only a charred heap of rebar and concrete.

"For the fifth time, Israeli forces bombed the UNRWA-run Al-Jawni School, killing 18 citizens, including two UNRWA staff members, children, and women, and injuring more than 18 others," Gaza's Civil Defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal posted on Telegram, referring to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.

UNRWA later said six of its staffers had been killed in two Israeli air raids on the Nuseirat school and its surroundings, calling it the highest death toll among its team in a single incident.

"Among those killed was the manager of the UNRWA shelter and other team members providing assistance to displaced people," the U.N. agency posted on X.

"Schools and other civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times, they are not a target."

Across the besieged strip, many school buildings have been repurposed to shelter displaced families as the vast majority of Gaza's 2.4 million people have been repeatedly uprooted by the war.

Israeli forces have struck several such schools in recent months, saying Palestinian militants were operating there and hiding among displaced civilians -- charges denied by Hamas.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it had conducted a "precise strike" on a Hamas command and control centre within the Al-Jawni compound...