Israeli strikes hit UN agency building in Gaza

Israeli forces launched more deadly strikes across Gaza yesterday, according to medical sources and the military, which said it targeted Hamas members operating from inside a UN agency building.

The Israeli army also said it was reviewing an attack on Tuesday night in which hospital sources said at least 29 people were killed in a nearby school in the southern Khan Yunis area — the fourth attack on a school building in four days.

Early yesterday, four people were killed and one critically wounded in the bombing of a house in the central town of Nuseirat, a hospital source said.

And two people were killed and six injured in another strike on a home in Bani Suhaila, near Khan Yunis, according to another hospital source.

Israel has stepped up air and ground attacks in Gaza City and southern Gaza since issuing evacuation orders for tens of thousands of people in the Palestinian territory.

The army yesterday dropped leaflets on Gaza City urging all residents to leave for safe zones.

The thousands of leaflets, addressed to “everyone in Gaza City”, set out routes out of the city to the south and warned it would “remain a dangerous combat zone”, an AFP journalist said.

The heightened military strikes come as Israeli officials started talks in Qatar yesterday on reaching a truce.

The Israeli military said that one overnight attack in Gaza City targeted Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets operating from inside the headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinians UNRWA.

UNRWA had no immediate comment on the attack, but has said it has “no way to verify” claims that its facilities are being used by Hamas and its allies.

Meanwhile Tuesday’s deadly strike near the Al-Awda school in Abasan, near Khan Yunis, brought new condemnation from Hamas over the Israeli military tactics.

The Hamas government said a “majority” of the dead were women and children.

At least 38,295 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military offensive in the enclave since October 7, and 88,241 have been wounded, the Palestinian enclave’s health ministry said yesterday. A total of 52 Palestinians were killed in the past 24 hours, the ministry said in a statement.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said it had received dozens of desperate calls from residents in Gaza City trapped in their homes but their teams were unable to reach them because of the intensity of the bombing, reports Reuters.

“The information coming from Gaza City shows residents are living through tragic conditions. (Israeli) occupation forces continue to hit residential districts, and displace people from their homes and refuge shelters,” it said in a statement.