An Israeli air strike hits a soccer complex in the Golan Heights on the same day as an Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah
TEL AVIV, Israel, and GAZA STRIP — A rocket hit a sports complex filled with children playing soccer in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights region Saturday afternoon, on the same day that an Israeli strike in Gaza devastated a school building and killed dozens of people.
The airstrike shattered the school used to shelter displaced Palestinian residents, killing at least 30 people and wounding more than 100. The Health Ministry in Gaza said that many of the dead were children.
The school is located in the central Gazan city of Deir al-Balah, where many Palestinians have fled following orders from the Israeli military.
The NPR reporter, Anas Baba, witnessed the aftermath of the strike and she stated that blood was everywhere and pieces of flesh were visible on the stairs.
Wounded children were carried away afterward on donkey carts, video captured by Baba showed, with bodies borne aloft by makeshift stretchers built from pieces of debris. In nearby hospitals, Baba found hallways lined with bodies, several of them clearly very young children.
Hamas hid in the school compound for assaults on Israeli units according to the Israeli military. The Israeli military said numerous steps had been taken to minimize the risk of harming civilians.
It was issued a second time, this time covering part of the humanitarian zone, which is composed of tent camps that lack latrines and don’t have access to aid. Israel expanded the zone to take in more people fleeing the crowded city of Rafah, where half the population had crowded.
Israeli Defense of the Children’s Families and Druze in the Hamas-Lebanese Black Hole: “All actions of violence against civilians”
Later Saturday, the Israeli ambulance service said a rocket launched from southern Lebanon killed 11 children, with around 30 injured, several of those very seriously.
Israeli soldiers shot down most of the rockets that Hezbollah launched from southern Lebanon toward northern Israel on Saturday.
A spokesperson for the Israeli military, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said it was the deadliest single attack on an Israeli target since Oct. 7, the date of the Hamas-led attack on Israel that sparked the current war in Gaza.
The incident has prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was briefed on the situation while in Washington, D.C., to return to Israel from the U.S. earlier than planned. He will convene a cabinet meeting after he’s back.
In a statement issued by his office, Netanyahu said the entire nation of Israel embraced the children’s Families and the Druze community in its difficult hour.
After months of fighting between Hezbollah and the Israel military along its border with Lebanon, analysts and regional leaders are worried about a large-scale confrontation between the two sides.
The State of Israel will not allow this to go unanswered, even after Hezbollah denied involvement, according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office. We will not overlook this.”
The Lebanese parliamentary speaker said Hezbollah’s denial of its involvement confirmed its commitment to avoiding violence against civilians, and proved Lebanon was not responsible.
The Lebanese government said the targeting of civilians is a “violation of international law” and that it condemned “all acts of violence and attacks against all civilians.”
Israeli airstrike hits school in Gaza, killing at least 30 Palestinians a day after the Israeli air strike hits a school used as a shelter
Associated Press journalists saw a dead toddler in an ambulance and bodies covered with blankets. Inside the school there were shattered walls and classrooms that were in ruins. People were looking for victims in rubble that was strewn with pillows.
The officials from the U.S., Egypt, Italy and Israel are going to meet on Sunday to discuss the ongoing cease-fire negotiations. CIA Director Bill Burns is expected to meet Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani, Mossad director David Barnea and Egyptian spy chief Abbas Kamel, according to officials from the U.S. and Egypt who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss the plans.
U.S. officials said that Israel and Hamas agreed on the basic framework of the three-phase deal. Benjamin Netanyahu told Congress that Israel would continue with the war until it achieved total victory.
The speech was condemned by the Palestinian officials after the strike. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said in a statement that Netanyahu’s reception from supporters in the U.S. constituted a “green light” to continue Israel’s offensive.
He said that every time the occupation bombs a school that shelters displaced persons, there is only some condemnation and denunciation that will not force it to stop its bloody aggression.
The military said that it was about to carry out an operation against Hamas in the city and part of Muwasi as Israel has ordered thousands of Palestinians to seek refuge.
Gaza Health Ministry officials said the evacuation orders had forced at least three health centers to stop providing care and compounded issues such as piled-up waste and shortages of supplies.
Source: At least 30 dead in Gaza after an Israeli airstrike hits a school used as a shelter
Gaza is a safer place than any other, according to the Israeli military: After Israel’s October 7 air attack on Gaza, Palestinians have a lot of freedom
According to Israeli estimates, about 1.8 million Palestinians shelter in the zone after being uprooted multiple times during Israel’s punishing air and ground campaign. The area is not a safe zone but it’s a safer place than any other in Gaza, the military said in November.
“These are forced displacement orders,” said Juliette Touma, the agency’s director of communications. “What happens is when people have these orders, they have very little time to move.”
Farther north, Palestinians mourned seven killed by Israeli airstrikes overnight on Zawaida, in central Gaza. The family and friends were wrapped in white shrouds as they were read their goodbyes.
A 17-year-old boy was killed and nine people were wounded after an Israeli strike on a camp in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli military said one of its aircraft attacked from the air as part of its activity in Nablus.
The war began with an assault by Hamas militants on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.
