A day earlier, at least 27 people were killed and 53 injured in an Israeli attack on a school housing displaced civilians in Khan Younis, as reported by Al Jazeera.
In addition, four schools have been hit in as many days as Israel has forced thousands of Palestinians to flee Khan Younis and Gaza City. At least three key hospitals have been forced to shut down in northern Gaza.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent in the Gaza Strip reports that Israeli army has expanded its military operation against the city, which has been continuing for the better part of two weeks, to the al-Rimal neighbourhood, in the southwest.
Fierce clashes are taking place between the Israeli troops that have penetrated the southwestern part of the city and Palestinian fighters, and that Israeli army helicopters were seen landing in the area, believed to be evacuating casualties.
Moreover, the al-Quds Bridages, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, says in a statement that its members are fighting “from point-blank range” with Israeli troops inside in the Shujayea neighbourhood, where this round of fighting in Gaza City began.
It also claims to have detonated explosives against Israeli army vehicles.
The group has issued a tally of the number of people killed and injured, among other relevant statistics, reiterating an earlier report from Gaza’s Health Ministry, which said that the death toll in the Gaza Strip since October 7 stands at 38,295 as of today.
More than 10,000 Palestinians are still under the rubble of the destroyed homes, including over 5,000 children.
A total 34 children across the Gaza Strip, especially in the northern areas, died as a result of malnutrition and dehydration.
The Government Media Office said on May 1 that the losses and destruction from the ongoing Israeli onslaught on Gaza exceeds $33bn.
Some 140 mass graves have been discovered across the Gaza Strip, according to the group EuroMed Rights. Seven mass graves were found in three hospitals containing over 520 bodies, including children and women, according to the health ministry.
Also read: Israeli attack on Gaza refugee camp kills 17, mostly children
The UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) says on X that two-thirds of the schools it administers in the Gaza Strip, which have served as shelters for displaced Palestinians since the war began, have been hit, killing 524 people.
“UN structures, schools and shelters are not a target,” is said.
Yesterday, the Israeli army attacked one such UNRWA school east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing dozens of people.
Exclusive video obtained by Al Jazeera shows bodies strewn around the streets in Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood, as fighting there continues.
Residents of the area, where Israeli forces have been conducting an intense ground operation for the last several days, reported that upon their return to their partially destroyed homes, they found graves exhumed and the cemetery completely bulldozed.
This is not the first time the Israeli army has been accused of desecrating graveyards. In January, video captured a destroyed cemetery in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, with the telltale marks of bulldozer treads in the dirt on top of what were previously graves.
