IDF says it hit terror center in Gaza hospital compound, is probing alleged shelter shelling
Tents set alight after Deir al-Balah strike, secondary blasts; IDF says terrorists had command center in hospital compound, looking into reports of shelling on Nuseirat school used as shelter
The Israel Defense Forces said Monday it had hit a terror command center inside a medical center compound in the Gaza Strip overnight, and was looking into reports that troops shelled a school housing people displaced by the ongoing war with terror group Hamas.
An airstrike before dawn killed three Palestinians and wounded 40 at the Al-Aqsa Hospital compound in the central Gaza Strip city of Deir al-Balah, Palestinian medics said.
Graphic footage circulating on social media, which could not immediately be verified, showed several tents set ablaze and people being consumed by the flames as others tried helplessly to put out the fire.
Secondary explosions could also be seen, although their cause was unclear.
The IDF said that it struck terrorists operating from a command center inside the medical center’s compound and accused Hamas of hiding among civilians and using facilities such as hospitals for terror operations.
The strike came hours after Israeli tank shelling on Sunday evening was said to have killed at least 22 Palestinians at a school sheltering displaced families in Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip.
This is so f**** scary
Do u know how many people live in this area!!!!Video taken from al aqsa hospital in deir el balah pic.twitter.com/MsYCbfxX4T
— Hind Khoudary (@Hind_Gaza) October 13, 2024
Many of those displaced in the Strip as a result of the war seek shelter in school buildings.
The vast majority of the Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once since the start of the conflict, which was sparked by the Palestinian terror group Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people. The thousands of terrorists who burst into the south of the country also took 251 people as hostages to Gaza.
The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said at least 15 children and women were among those killed in the school. It added that 80 other people were wounded.
The numbers could not be independently verified and Hamas does not differentiate between civilians and terror operatives.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
Last week marked the first anniversary of the start of the war, with internationally mediated ceasefire talks languishing.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 40,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, but does not differentiate between combatants and civilians. Israel says it has killed some 17,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip has passed 350.
