GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Sept 22, 2024 (AFP) - Civil defence 
rescuers in Gaza City said an Israeli strike Sunday on a school-turned-
shelter killed at least 7 people, with the Israeli military saying it had 
targeted Hamas militants.

The vast majority of the besieged Gaza Strip's 2.4 million people have been 
displaced at least once by the war, sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack on 
Israel, with many seeking shelter in school buildings.

Civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal reported "seven martyrs and a 
number of wounded, including serious cases, as a result of Israeli shelling 
of Kafr Qasim School" in the Al-Shati refugee camp.

He said hundreds of displaced Gazans were sheltering there.

The Israeli military said it was targeting Palestinian militants operating 
from the school grounds, and that its forces had taken steps "to mitigate the 
risk of harm to uninvolved civilians" including by using "precise munitions" 
and surveillance.

It said the air force had "conducted a precise strike on Hamas terrorists in 
the northern Gaza Strip" who were "operating from a compound" at the school 
complex.

The military statement did not provide information on casualties.

Sunday's attack was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes on school 
buildings housing displaced people in Gaza, where fighting has raged for 
nearly a year.

On Saturday the civil defence agency said an Israeli strike on another 
school-turned-shelter, also in Gaza City, had killed 21 people. The military 
said it was targeting militants.

A strike on the United Nations-run Al-Jawni School in central Gaza on 
September 11 drew international outcry after the UN agency for Palestinian 
refugees, UNRWA, said six of its staffers were among the 18 reported 
fatalities.

The Israeli military accuses Hamas of hiding in school buildings where 
thousands of Gazans have sought shelter -- a charge denied by the Palestinian 
militant group.

At least 41,391 Palestinians, a majority of them civilians, have been killed 
in Israel's military campaign in Gaza since the war began, according to data 
provided by the health ministry. The United Nations has acknowledged these 
figures as reliable.

The October 7 attack that triggered it resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people 
on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based 
on official Israeli figures, which includes hostages killed in captivity.

Out of 251 people taken hostage that day, 97 are still being held inside the 
Gaza Strip, including 33 who the Israeli military says are dead.