(10 Aug 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Gaza City, Gaza Strip – 10 August 2024
1. Various of people gathering near bodies lying on ground
2. Various of women crying
3. Various of people carrying bodies and leaving hospital for burial
4. Various of people burying bodies in grave
STORYLINE:
Palestinians buried their dead on Saturday following an Israeli airstrike that hit a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City, killing more than 60 people, according to local health authorities.
It was one of the deadliest strikes in the 10-month-old war between Israel and Hamas.
The Israeli military acknowledged the strike, claiming it hit a Hamas command center within the school.
The strike on the Tabeen school in central Gaza City also wounded 47 people, the Health Ministry’s Ambulance and Emergency service said.
The facility, like almost all of Gaza’s schools, has been used as a shelter for people who have been forced to flee their homes by the war.
The strike hit without warning in the early morning before sunrise as people were praying at a mosque inside the school, according to Abu Anas, a witness who worked to rescue people.
Three missiles ripped through the school and the mosque inside, where about 6,000 displaced people were taking shelter from the war, said Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesperson for the Civil Defense first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government.
Many of the dead were unrecognizable, he said, adding that he expected the death toll to rise. Many of the casualties were women and children, he said.
According to the United Nations, 477 out of 564 schools in Gaza have been directly hit or damaged in the war as of July 6.
In June, an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in central Gaza killed at least 33 people, including 12 women and children, according to local health officials.
Israel has blamed the civilian deaths in Gaza on Hamas, saying the group endangers non-combatants by using schools and residential neighborhoods as bases for operations and attacks.
In its statement Saturday, the Israeli military said the school was located next to a mosque serving as a shelter for Gaza City residents.
The strike came as American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators renewed their push for the two parties to achieve a cease-fire agreement that could help calm soaring tensions in the region following the assassination of top Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 39,600 Palestinians and wounded more than 91,700 others, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.
The war was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which militants from Gaza stormed into southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and abducting 250 others.
More than 1.9 million of Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million have been driven from their homes, fleeing repeatedly across the territory to escape offensives.
Most are now crowded into ramshackle tent camps in an area of about 50 square kilometers (19 square miles) on the Gaza coast.
Production by Wafaa Shurafa
===========================================================
Clients are reminded to adhere to all listed restrictions and to check the terms of their licence agreements. For further assistance, please contact the AP Archive on: Tel +44(0)2074827482 Email: info@aparchive.com.
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/5472a0ef34594293bb0fa0378ef38dee
Author: AP Archive
Go to Source
News post in August 15, 2024, 12:04 pm.
Visit Our Sponsor’s:
News Post In – News
