GAZA, Aug 10 (BBC/AFP/AP): An Israeli air strike on a school building sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza City has killed more than 70 people, the director of a hospital has told the BBC.
Fadl Naeem, head of al-Ahli Hospital where many of the casualties were taken, said those were the victims who had been identified so far, with the remains of many others so badly disfigured that identification was difficult.
He said the situation was "catastrophic", and doctors were unable to treat those seriously wounded.
A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said al-Taba'een school "served as an active Hamas and Islamic Jihad military facility" with approximately 20 "militants" operating there. Hamas denies this.
Earlier estimates of the number of dead were also in the dozens, with the Hamas-run health ministry's ambulance service saying more than 60 had been killed, according to AP. The civil defence agency put the number at more than 90.
The BBC cannot independently verify figures from either side. Israel has attacked several such shelters in Gaza in the past few weeks.
According to the United Nations, 477 out of 564 school buildings in Gaza had been directly hit or damaged as of 6 July, with at least another 14 targeted since.
Al-Taba'een school housed more 1,000 people - having recently received dozens of displaced people from the town of Beit Hanoun, after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes.
The building also served as a mosque and the Israeli strike hit during dawn prayers, witnesses said. Jaafar Taha, a student who lives near the school, told the BBC the sound of the bombing was followed by screaming and noise.
UN rapporteur accuses
Israel of 'genocide'
An independent UN-appointed expert accused Israel of committing "genocide" in its Gaza war after an Israeli strike targeting a school on Saturday killed 93 people, according to local rescuers.
"Israel is genociding the Palestinians one neighbourhood at the time, one hospital at the time, one school at the time, one refugee camp at the time, one safe zone at the time," Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the rights situation in Palestinian territories, said on social media platform X.
US, frustrated mediators
call to resume Gaza talks
Leaders of the United States, Egypt and Qatar jointly demanded Israel and Hamas return to stalled talks on the war in Gaza next week, saying Thursday that "only the details" of carrying out a cease-fire and hostage release remain to be negotiated. "There is no further time to waste, nor excuses from any party for further delay," they said in a joint statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Thursday that it had accepted the invitation.
President Joe Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Qatari Emir Tamim al-Thani, mediators in indirect negotiations to end 10 months of devastating war in Gaza, set the talks for Aug. 15, to take place in either Doha, Qatar, or Cairo.
A senior U.S. official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss the push by mediators, said only four or five areas of disagreement over implementation remained to be resolved between the two opponents.
