Israel strikes school and is accused of targeting UN peacekeepers

• An Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced people in central Gaza killed at least 28 people including women and children on Thursday, medics said. READ MORE BELOW

• Israeli troops opened fire at three positions held by UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon on Thursday, according to a U.N. source. READ MORE BELOW

• Italy has protested to Israel after the incident, Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said.

• A UN probe said it found that Israel carried out a concerted policy of destroying Gaza's healthcare system in the Gaza war, actions amounting to both war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination. READ MORE BELOW

• UN children's agency UNICEF said humanitarian pauses have been agreed to, allowing a second round of polio vaccinations targeting 590,000 children to start in the Gaza Strip on October 14.

• Gulf states are lobbying Washington to stop Israel from attacking Iran's oil sites because they are concerned their own oil facilities could come under fire from Tehran's proxies if the conflict escalates, three Gulf sources told Reuters.

• The expanding geographical sweep of the conflict in the Middle East to Lebanon is having catastrophic consequences for the region, the Kremlin said. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the comments when asked about the possibility of Israel preparing for military action in Syria, a close Russian ally.

• More than 1,000 Americans and their dependents have fled Lebanon aboard U.S. chartered flights in the last week, arriving in Turkiye for a temporary stay, the top U.S. diplomat in Istanbul said on.

• Israel carried out airstrikes targeting an industrial site in the Syrian city of Homs and a military site in the countryside near the city of Hama leaving only "some material damage," Syrian state TV said.

• The Israeli army said it intercepted "hostile aircraft" flying from Lebanon over Western Galilee, triggering sirens in the area.

• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz rejected claims that Berlin had imposed a de facto stop on arms exports to Israel and said more defense goods would be sent soon.

• Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met his Qatari counterpart in Doha on Thursday, after Israel warned it would retaliate against his country for a missile attack last week.

• An Israeli strike hit a road linking Syria and Lebanon as Israel tries to cut off supply routes of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, a war monitor said.

28 dead in school attack

According to medics, an Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced people in central Gaza killed at least 28 people including women and children on Thursday, while three hospitals in the north were told to evacuate.

The strike, in which many more were wounded, occurred in the city of Deir Al-Balah where a million people have taken shelter after fleeing fighting elsewhere after more than a year of war.

The Israeli military said it carried out a "precise strike on terrorists" who had a command and control center embedded in a school.

The Palestinian militant group denies such accusations. Medics said 54 other people were injured at the school.

UN position attacked

Israeli troops opened fire at three positions held by UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, according to a UN source who was not immediately able to specify the type of fire.

The source said one of the locations fired at was UNIFIL's main base at Naqoura. There was no official statement from UNIFIL or immediate comment from the Israeli military.

UNIFIL said on Sunday that it was "deeply concerned by recent activities" by the Israeli military near a peacekeeper position in southwestern Lebanon.

'Concerted policy'

A UN inquiry said on Thursday it found that Israel carried out a concerted policy of destroying Gaza's healthcare system in the Gaza war, actions amounting to both war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination.

A statement by ex-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay released ahead of a full report accused Israel of "relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities" in the war, triggered by Hamas militants' deadly cross-border attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

"Children in particular have borne the brunt of these attacks, suffering both directly and indirectly from the collapse of the health system," said Pillay, whose report will be presented to the UN General Assembly on October 30.

Israel says that Gaza's militants operate from the cover of built-up populated areas including private homes, schools and hospitals and that it will strike them wherever they emerge, while also trying to avoid harming civilians. Hamas denies hiding militants, weapons and command posts among civilians.

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