An Israeli School strike kills 27, says the health ministry

At least 27 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike at a northern gas school, which served as a shelter for displaced families, says Hamas-run health ministry.

Dozens more were injured when the school in Dar Al-Arkam in the northeast Tufa neighborhood in Gaza was struck, it was pointed to a local hospital.

The Israeli military said he had hit “prominent terrorists in the city who were in the Hamas Command and Control Center” without mentioning a school.

The Ministry of Health reportedly announced the murder of another 97 people in Israeli attacks in the previous 24 hours, as Israel said its offensive was expanding to seize large parts of the Palestinian territory.

The spokesman for the Hamas Civil Protection Agency in Gaza, Mahmoud Basal, said that children and women were among the dead after the strike at the Dar Al-Arkam school.

He also said that a woman who was pregnant with twins had disappeared with her husband, her sister and her three children.

Video from a nearby Al-Ali Hospital showed that the children were put in cars and trucks with serious injuries.

A statement by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) said that the site in Gaza was hit was used by Hamas fighters to plan attacks against Israeli civilians and troops.

He added that numerous steps had been taken to mitigate the harm of civilians.

At night, at least 12 people were killed when several homes were struck in the East Sherjea area in Gaza, the Civil Protection said.

He posted a video that appeared to show the bodies of two young children who were drawn by rescuers from the remains of a collapsed building.

A witness who wanted not to be baptized, told BBC Arabic Gaza's Lifeline program that he had slept when he was “suddenly shaken by a violent explosion and discovered that this had happened in our neighbors' house, the Ayyad family.”

There was no immediate comment from the IDF, but on Thursday morning he ordered the residents of Sherjea and four neighboring areas to immediately evacuate in Western Gaza City, warning that it was “operating with great force … to destroy the terrorist infrastructure.”

This week, IDF has issued similar evacuation orders for several areas of North Gaza, as well as for the entire southern city of Rafa and parts of the neighboring Khan ENNIS, which prompts about 100,000 Palestinians to escape, according to the UN.

Israel resumed its air bombing and ground offensive in Gaza on March 18, after the first phase of fire and the release deal from hostages agreed with Hamas in January ended and the negotiations for the second phase of the deal stopped.

The chief spokesman for IDF, Brig-Gendy Defrin, told a briefing on Thursday that his operation had “progressed at another stage” in recent days.

“We have expanded the operations in the southern Gaza strip for the purpose of surrounding and dividing the Rafa area,” he said. “In the northern Gaza, our troops operate against terrorist purposes, clearing the area and disassembling terrorist infrastructure.”

He added that over the last two weeks, Israeli forces have hit over 600 “terrorist goals” in Gaza and “eliminated over 250 terrorists.”

Before the strike in the tufa, the Gaza Ministry of Health said at least 1163 people had been killed in the same period. The UN Agency said they include more than 300 children.

On Wednesday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli forces were creating another military corridor that would tear Rafa from Khan Enis.

He claims that military pressure will force Hamas to release the other 59 hostages he holds, up to 24 of which are thought to be alive.

However, Hamas said he would not deal with Israel's latest proposal for a new termination of fire, which was said to be coordinated with the United States, one of the mediators in the negotiations.

The Palestinian Group said it had accepted only the plan presented by the two other mediators and Egypt for a 50-day truce.

The full details of this plan have not been revealed, but it is understood that the regional proposal will be seen that five hostages have been released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from parts of Gaza, where they have recently been redistributed and the influx of humanitarian assistance. There will also be negotiations to end the war.

Israel wants a larger number of hostages to be released at the beginning of a new truce.

In another development on Thursday, the IDF said the mechanism for establishing the facts of the General Staff investigating the murder of the Israeli forces of 15 Palestinian workers near Rafa on March 23, as well as their funeral in what a UN employee described as a “mass grave”.

“We want to have all the facts in an accurate way and we can also keep responsible people if we need to,” said IDF spokesman.

The Palestinian Fielder who survived the attack, talking to the BBC, challenged the Israeli account From how five ambulances, a fire machine and a UN vehicle were fired while responding to emergency conversations.

The military said the vehicles “progress” suspiciously to their troops without headlights or emergency signals. He is also said to be the operational haham and “eight other terrorists” are among those killed, but only one is listed.

The survivor, Mander Abed, insisted that “all lights are on” until the vehicles were under direct fire. He also rejected the military's claim that Hamas may have used ambulances as a cover, saying that all emergency workers are civilians.

The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross -border attack on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and 251 were taken hostage.

Since then, more than 50,520 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the territory.