'22 killed including 13 children' in Israeli strike on Gaza, local officials say, as IDF says it took out Hamas fighters

21 September 2024, 14:20

Some 22 people, including 13 children and six women, have been killed in an Israeli strike on a shelter in Gaza, local officials have reported, while the IDF said it targeted a Hamas command centre.

Thirty more people were injured in the strike on a former school in Gaza City, a spokesman for the Gaza health ministry said.

Israel said it had struck a Hamas "command and control centre" in a compound that previously served as an educational facility.

"The Hamas terrorist organisation systematically violates international law by operating from inside civilian infrastructure," the army said.

The Israeli army has continually accused Hamas of operating from within civilian infrastructure in Gaza, including schools and United Nations facilities.

Read more: Two Hezbollah commanders among at least 31 killed in IDF strike, as Hamas warns Israel will 'pay the price'

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The war began when Hamas-led fighters killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in an October 7 attack on southern Israel.

They abducted another 250 people and are still holding around 100 hostages.

Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed at least 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between fighters and civilians.

It comes as the conflict between Israel and Lebanon in the north also escalated this week, with bombing by both sides.

Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon were also hit with exploding electronic devices including pagers and walkie-talkies.

Israel has not confirmed that it was responsible, but many onlookers and intelligence sources have attributed the attacks to its intelligence agency Mossad.

On Saturday, Lebanon's health minister Firass Abiad told reporters that 31 people including three children had been killed on Friday, along with 68 people who were wounded, of whom 15 remain in hospital, in the deadliest Israeli air strike on Beirut since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.

Caller defends Israel's actions regarding walkie-talkie explosions

The death toll included Ibrahim Akil, a Hezbollah commander who was in charge of the group's elite Radwan Forces, as well as about a dozen members of the militant group who were meeting in the basement of the building that was destroyed.

Three Syrian nationals were among the dead, Mr Abiad said. The Israeli military said the strike killed 11 Hezbollah operatives, including Akil.