100 people have been killed after an Israeli attack on a school in Gaza housing displaced persons.
The school, which is located in Gaza City’s Daraj neighbourhood, was reportedly targeted during morning prayers on Saturday.
It was also reported that women, children, and the elderly were among those killed.
According to an Israeli military statement, the school served as “Hamas headquarters” and housed “terrorists”.
The statement also emphasised that many procedures had been taken to lessen the likelihood of civilian deaths.
Reacting to the attack in a statement, Gaza government media office said the Israeli occupation army committed a massacre, stressing that the attack constitutes genocide and ethnic cleansing against Palestinians.
“The occupation army directly bombed the displaced people while they were performing the dawn prayer, and this caused the number of martyrs to rise rapidly.
“Due to the horror of the massacre and the large number of martyrs, medical teams, civil defence, and relief and emergency teams have not been able to recover the bodies of all the martyrs so far.
“We condemn in the strongest terms the occupation’s perpetration of this horrific massacre, and we call on the whole world to condemn it. We hold the Israeli occupation and the American administration fully responsible for this massacre.
“We call on the international community and international organisations to put pressure on the occupation to stop the crime of genocide and ethnic cleansing against civilians and displaced persons in the Gaza Strip and to stop the cascade of blood flowing in the Gaza Strip,” the statement reads.
Israel has been launching missiles on Gaza since Hamas infiltrated Israeli territory on October 7, 2023.