Deir Al-Balah, 27 Jul: Israeli airstrikes hit a school being used by displaced people in central Gaza on Saturday, killing dozens, as the country’s negotiators prepared to meet international mediators to discuss a proposed cease-fire.
\nAt least 30 people sheltering at a girls’ school in Deir Al-Balah were taken to Al Aqsa Hospital and pronounced dead after a strike that Israel’s military said targeted a Hamas command and control centre used to store weapons and plan attacks. It said militants \u201cused the compound as a hiding place to direct and plan numerous attacks against IDF troops\u201d and \u201cdeveloped and stored large quantities of weapons inside\u201d.
\nCivil defence workers in Gaza said that thousands were sheltering in the school, which also contained a medical site.
\nNear the hospital, where the bodies were transported, Associated Press journalists saw an ambulance rushing through a dusty road as a few people ran in the opposite direction. An injured man lay on a stretcher on the ground. A body covered with a blanket and a dead toddler lay inside the ambulance.
\nInside the school, classrooms were in ruins. People were seen searching for victims under the rubble and some were gathering the remains of those who were killed.
\nGaza’s Health Ministry said at least 12 people had been killed in other strikes on Saturday.
\nThe strikes hit a day before officials from the US, Egypt, Qatar and Israel are scheduled to meet in Italy to discuss the ongoing hostage and cease-fire negotiations. CIA Director Bill Burns is expected to meet Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani, Mossad director David Barnea and Egyptian spy chief Abbas Kamel on Sunday, according to officials from the US and Egypt who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss the plans.
\nUS officials said on Friday that Israel and Hamas are in agreement on the basic framework of the three-phase deal under consideration. However, in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the US Congress, he vowed to press forward with the war until Israel achieves \u201ctotal victory\u201d.
\nPalestinian officials vehemently condemned the speech after the school strike. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said in a statement that Netanyahu’s reception from his supporters in the United States constituted a \u201cgreen light\u201d to continue Israel’s offensive.
\n\u201cEvery time the occupation bombs a school that shelters displaced persons, we see only some condemnations and denunciations that will not force the occupation to stop its bloody aggression,\u201d he said.
\nHumanitarian zone evacuated ahead of strikes
\nEarlier, Israel’s military ordered the evacuation of a part of a designated humanitarian zone in Gaza ahead of a planned strike on Khan Younis on Saturday.
\nThe evacuation order was in response to rocket fire that Israel said originated from the area. The military said it planned an operation against Hamas militants in the city, including parts of Muwasi, the crowded tent camp in an area where Israel has told thousands of Palestinians to seek refuge throughout the war. (PTI)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Deir Al-Balah, 27 Jul: Israeli airstrikes hit a school being used by displaced people in central Gaza on Saturday, killing dozens, as the country’s negotiators prepared to meet international mediators to discuss a proposed cease-fire. At least 30 people sheltering at a girls’ school in Deir Al-Balah were taken to Al Aqsa Hospital and pronounced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-245185","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245185\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}