22 Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrike on Gaza school

At least 22 Palestinians were killed and 30 others wounded on Saturday in an Israeli airstrike on a school housing displaced people in southern Gaza City, Gaza-based health authorities said, reported Xinhua.

The school was in the Zeitoun neighborhood and most of the casualties were children and women, the health authorities said in a brief statement.

An Israeli warplane bombed the school with at least one missile, Palestinian security sources told Xinhua.

In a press statement, the Hamas-run government media office in Gaza accused the Israeli army of committing a "horrific massacre" by bombing a school housing thousands of displaced people south of Gaza City.

The statement held the Israeli army and the U.S. administration fully responsible for the continuation of the crime, and called on the international community to compel Israel to stop its crime.

Meanwhile, Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a press statement that Air Force warplanes, with intelligence guidance, struck Hamas militants operating in a command and control complex in a school in Gaza City.

The complex was used by Hamas militants to plan and carry out "terrorist" operations against Israel and its forces, according to Adraee.

Israel launched a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage.

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in Gaza has risen to 41,391, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement Saturday.