AP Staff
Jun 71 min
An Israeli airstrike hit a U.N.-run school compound in northern Gaza on Friday, killing three people according to Palestinian emergency officials, a day after a similar strike on a school in Gaza’s center killed at least 33 people. In both airstrikes, the Israeli army said Hamas militants were operating from within the schools. The Associated Press could not verify the claims.
Israel on Friday released the names of 17 militants it said were killed in Thursday’s strike. However, only nine of those names matched with records of the dead from the hospital morgue. One of the alleged militants was an 8-year-old boy, according to hospital records.
International pressure is mounting on Israel to limit civilian bloodshed in its war in Gaza, which completed its eighth month on Friday. Seeking a breakthrough in the apparently stalled cease-fire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return to the Middle East next week.
And at the United Nations, Israel and Hamas are both set to be listed as violating the rights and protection of children in armed conflict, in an upcoming annual report to the Security Council. Israel reacted with public outrage after being informed Friday about the designation.