Israel-Gaza: 'Many under rubble' as Israeli strikes on schools kill dozens

An Israeli strike hit two schools where displaced civilians had sought shelter in Gaza City, killing at least 30 people, Gaza's civil defense agency confirmed.

"The number of martyrs in the massacre of the Hassan Salameh and Al-Nasr schools' bombing has risen to 30. Dozens were also wounded," civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told reporters. Bassal said most of the dead and wounded were women and children.

The strike was confirmed by Israel's army but it said that it targeted Hamas fighters who were operating in their vicinity.

"The schools were used by Hamas's Al-Furqan Battalion as a hiding place for its terrorist operatives and as command centers used to plan and execute attacks against IDF (Israel Defence Forces) troops and the State of Israel," the military said.

These attacks takes the number of schools in Gaza to be struck since July 6 to at least 11, killing around 150 people, based on a tally of tolls previously given by Gazan officials.

'No safe place in Gaza'

Nebal Farsakh from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) told Al Jazeera that many Palestinians "are still missing under the rubble." 

Farsakh, who was on the scene, reported that PRCS ambulance teams managed to evacuate several injured Palestinians, but "many are still missing under the rubble." She described the situation as "very horrific," with "women screaming" as they searched for their children. 

"This attack is again another proof that there is no safe place in Gaza. These two schools are housing displaced civilians who have been forced to leave multiple times, and now even they have been forced to flee another time after this attack," she said.

An Israeli air strike also hit a tent inside a hospital compound in central Gaza, killing at least five people, Gaza health officials said, after another round of talks ended without result. The airstrike hit a tent area inside the Al-Aqsa Hospital compound, starting a fire, and wounding at least 18 people in addition to the five killed, medical authorities said.

The Israeli military said it struck a fighter who "conducted terror activities" and that secondary explosions were identified, indicating weapons were present in the area. Its statement added it struck 50 military targets across the enclave in the last 24 hours, including fighters' cells.

The hospital compound is in the Deir Al-Balah area, which is crowded with thousands of people displaced by fighting in other parts of the enclave.

Mounting death toll

At least 39,583 Palestinians have been killed and 91,398 others injured in Israel's war in Gaza, its health ministry said. Residents in areas east of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis and to the north of Rafah, where there was heavy fighting last month, reported receiving evacuation orders from the Israeli military.

Separately, the Israeli military said it was working on dismantling a three-meter high tunnel in the Philadelphi corridor on the border with Egypt discovered last week by troops searching for underground Hamas infrastructure in the area.

These Israeli strikes and shelling in the Gaza Strip continued after diplomatic efforts in Cairo on Saturday ended without progress, and as Israel braced for a serious escalation in the north.

Sirens went off in the area of Ashdod, further north than seen in recent weeks, and the Israeli military said five rockets were launched from southern Gaza. No injuries were reported. 

Hamas's armed wing claimed the rocket firing was in response to Israeli "massacres against the civilians."

'Netanyahu dragging region into unprecedented clash'

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has insisted that Israel must retain control over areas on the border with Egypt and be able to control entry to northern Gaza, said Hamas had yet to agree to a proposed ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Israel seeks the return of 115 Israeli and foreign hostages still being held after they were abducted during the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

"I insist that the maximum number of living hostages must be freed in the first stage of the deal and that the leverage for pressing for the release of all the hostages later be preserved," he said in a statement, denying that his government opposed a deal. "The complete opposite is true," he said.

Hamas has blamed Netanyahu for the lack of progress, saying he is not interested in agreement.

"Things about the agreement have gone beyond the details," Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said. "Netanyahu is dragging the region into an unprecedented clash."

Calls for foreign nationals to leave Lebanon

The chances of a breakthrough appear slim as regional tension has soared following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week, a day after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed Fuad Shukr, a top military commander from Lebanese political party Hezbollah.

Haniyeh's death was one in a series of killings of senior Hamas figures as the war in Gaza nears its 11th month.

Hamas and Iran have both accused Israel of carrying out the assassination of Haniyeh and have pledged to retaliate. Israel has neither claimed nor denied responsibility for the killing.

Hezbollah has also vowed revenge after the killing of Shukr.

Jonathan Finer, White House National Security Council deputy adviser, stated that the U.S. is advising its citizens to leave Lebanon and is deploying additional military forces in the Middle East. "Our goal is de-escalation, our goal is deterrence, our goal is defense of Israel," Finer said in an interview with CBS's Face the Nation.

Urgent calls for foreign nationals to leave Lebanon grew with France warning of "a highly volatile" situation.

Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Canada were also among the latest governments to call for their citizens to leave Lebanon. France urged its nationals living in Iran to "temporarily leave," warning Iranian airspace and airports could close.

Several western airlines have suspended flights to Lebanon and other airports in the region. 

Qatar Airways said the Doha-Beirut route would "operate exclusively during daylight hours" at least until Monday.

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