At least 18 people were killed after Israeli airstrikes targeted two schools in Gaza on Thursday, the blockaded enclave's civil defense agency said.
"The Israeli occupation killed more than 18 citizens in strikes on two schools," senior agency official Mohammad al-Mughayyir told AFP, referring to Al-Zahra and Abdel Fattah Hamoud schools in Gaza City.
Mughayyir said 60 people were also wounded and more than 40 still missing.
"This is a clear targeting of schools and safe civilian facilities in the Gaza Strip," he said.
The Israeli military, which has committed countless violations of international law by targeting schools, hospitals, aid convoys, refugee camps, bakeries and more, claimed the schools housed Hamas command centers.
After Israel launched its attacks on Gaza following Oct. 7 attacks, school operations in the sealed-off coastal area were suspended. Most schools now serve as emergency shelters for war-displaced people.
The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza's population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while most of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the U.N.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
