At least 17 people were killed in yesterday’s (Saturday) Israeli strike on a Gaza school complex, according to the latest tally released by the Palestinian enclave’s civil protection agency. For its part, the Israeli military claims it hit a Hamas command center.

“Seventeen martyrs and many wounded are the toll of the Israeli bombardment at the school in Hamama,” says the announcement of the civil protection service in Gaza. The previous count was ten dead.

The Israeli Armed Forces (IDF) confirmed the strike in the area, underlining that it targeted “terrorists” in a “Hamas command and control center”, formerly known as “Hamamah school, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip”. “From there, various terrorist attacks against Israeli soldiers were planned and launched. In addition, Hamas weapons were manufactured and stored at the compound,” the IDF statement said.

Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using civilian infrastructure as command centers or hideouts for its leaders and fighters.

Mahmoud Basal, a spokesman for the civil protection service in Gaza, said earlier that the school compound had been sheltered by displaced people who were forced to leave their homes due to Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, which began on October 7 after the unprecedented attack of Hamas in Israel.