Children of displaced families playing who took shelter in a makeshift encampment on the sand of Beirut's Ramlet al-Bayda beach on Thursday — AFP GAZA, Oct 10 (BBC/AFP/Reuters): At least 28 people have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a school sheltering displaced families in the central Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Red Crescent says.
More than 50 others were injured in the attack on Rufaida al-Aslamia school, which the medical organisation said was close to its headquarters in the town of Deir al-Balah.
A video from the scene showed people running to help the injured amid a cloud of smoke and dust, while several children were pictured being treated at the local al-Aqsa hospital.
The Israeli military said the "precise" strike targeted Hamas fighters operating inside a "command-and-control centre" at the school.
It also said it had taken steps to mitigate harm to civilians and accused Hamas of systematically abusing civilian infrastructure - an allegation the group has previously denied.
Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry also put the death toll at 28 and denounced what it called a "new massacre" by the Israeli military.
Many schools have been turned into shelters for the 1.9 million Palestinians who have fled their homes since the war in Gaza started a year ago.
The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group's unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
More than 42,060 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.
US calls out Israel at UN for
'catastrophic Gaza conditions'
Israel needs to address urgently "catastrophic conditions" among Palestinian civilians in the besieged Gaza Strip and stop "intensifying suffering" by limiting aid deliveries, its ally the United States told the UN Security Council on Wednesday.
Referring to reports of squalid conditions in south and central Gaza, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said: "These catastrophic conditions were predicted months ago, and yet, have still not been addressed. That must change, and now."
"We call on Israel to take urgent steps to do so," she said in a blunt statement.
The 15-member Security Council met over the humanitarian crisis a year after a deadly attack by Palestinian militants Hamas on southern Israel sparked the war in Gaza. Israel has since laid to waste much of the enclave and almost the entire population of 2.3 million has been displaced.
Bolivia joins South Africa ICJ
'genocide' case against Israel
Bolivia has joined South Africa's case against Israel at the International Court of Justice that alleges the Israeli Gaza offensive breaches the UN Genocide Convention, the court said on Wednesday.
The South American country is the latest of several nations, including Colombia, Libya, Spain and Mexico, adding their weight to the case against Israel, which vehemently denies the accusations.
Bolivia already announced in November it was severing diplomatic ties over what it described as the "disproportionate" attacks on Gaza by Israel.
At the time, Israel slammed the move as "a surrender to terrorism".
In a January 26 ruling that made headlines around the world, the ICJ told Israel to do everything possible to prevent acts of genocide during its military operations in Gaza.
The court has also ordered Israel to ensure "unimpeded access" to UN-mandated investigators to look into allegations of genocide.
South Africa has returned several times to the ICJ, arguing that the dire humanitarian situation in the territory compels the court to issue further fresh emergency measures.
In its submission to the court made public on Wednesday, Bolivia argued: "Israel's genocidal war continues, and the Court's orders remain dead letters to Israel."
While ICJ rulings are legally binding, the court has no concrete means to enforce them.
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