GAZA: PALESTINE – Israeli airstrike hits school in Gaza housing displaced Palestinians on Monday morning, combined with another strike in a residential home, killing at least 49. These air strikes targeted Gaza City and Jabalia, in the northern parts of the Gaza Strip.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, a medical source said that the death toll from the Israeli airstrike on the Fahmi Al-Jirjawi school, which shelters displaced people, in Gaza City’s al-Daraj neighborhood has risen to 30.
A fire swept through the tents following the bombing, said Al-Aqsa TV and other local sources.
Eyewitness videos circulated online, showing burned bodies, many of them children, and others crying out as flames consumed their surroundings.
“Charred corpses and the screams of displaced people engulfed in flames were seen and heard from the site,” one report said.
In a statement, the Israeli army confirmed the strike, claiming that Hamas has turned the shelter into a “command and control center.” It, however, did not provide any proof to support its claim.
Airstrike on House
Meanwhile, in another deadly airstrike, 19 more people were killed and others injured in an Israeli airstrike on a home in Jabalia town, northern Gaza, according to a medical source.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that the Israeli airstrike “completely destroyed” a multi-story building, with dozens of displaced people residing inside.
The Israeli army, rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing more than 53,900 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
Israeli Settlers Storm Al-Aqsa Mosque
In other news, more than 900 Israeli settlers, including Knesset members, stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem on Monday to mark the city’s occupation by Israel, Palestinian media said.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa, citing local sources, said the settlers performed Talmudic rituals in the mosque’s courtyards, with some attempting to bring Torah scrolls through the Al-Mugharbah Gate area, west of the holy mosque.
Israeli flags were raised in the mosque’s eastern area as settlers danced provocatively while Israeli forces erected iron barriers around Damascus Gate and the Old City areas to further impose restrictions on the entry of Palestinians, Wafa said.
Settler groups have called for intensified raids on the mosque, with a provocative “flag march” scheduled later in the day through Palestinian neighborhoods.
Since 2003, Israel has allowed illegal settlers to enter the flashpoint compound almost every day, except Fridays and Saturdays.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is one of the three holiest sites for Muslims around the world, and Jews refer to the area as the “Temple Mount,” claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.