13 children among 22 Palestinians killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school

At least 22 Palestinians, including 13 children, have been killed and several others injured in an Israeli air strike on a school sheltering displaced people in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City.

According to a statement by the government media office in the besieged enclave, six women and an unborn child were also among those killed in the strike on Saturday.

"During the horrific massacre, the occupation killed 16 from among the orphaned children and the widowed women whose fathers and husbands were killed in previous Israeli air strikes," it noted.

The statement said the victims had come to the school "to receive a small amount of money (orphan sponsorship) so they could buy their needs amid the genocide being waged by the occupation for nearly a year.

"However, the occupation's missiles were waiting for them, killing them and turning them into dismembered bodies."

It added that 30 others, including nine children, were also injured in the attack.

Displaced centres targeted

The media office said that 181 centres for displaced individuals have been targeted by Israeli forces since the beginning of the war on Gaza.

Separately, a medical source at the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City told Anadolu Agency that the victims were brought to the hospital following the strike on the school, which was housing hundreds of displaced families.

Witnesses reported that the Israeli air strike hit the Asqoula area in the Zeitoun neighborhood, causing significant casualties among those seeking refuge in the school.

The Israeli army has acknowledged that it targeted the school, claiming it was being used by Hamas as a “command and control center.”

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since a Hamas attack last October despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire.

Nearly 41,400 people, mostly women and children, have since been killed and over 95,700 injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.