More than 100 dead and dozens injured are the toll of the bombardment carried out early this morning by the Israeli air force on the Al-Tabajin school building complex in the Daraj neighborhood of northern Gaza, according to information transmitted by the Reuters agency, citing ministry sources. health of Hamas.

As reported by the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, a large number of homeless families, who came from other parts of the Gaza Strip, had taken refuge in this building complex.

What do the Israelis say?

On the other hand, the Israeli army announced that twenty armed members of Hamas were neutralized during the operation, adding that the mosque located inside the building complex served as a staff base for Hamas and Islamic Jihad officials. Commenting on the reports of the international agencies, the Israeli army with its relevant post on the X platform (formerly twitter) states that the number of victims reported by Hamas is excessive “according to the first data gathered from the Israeli side”.

Egypt’s foreign ministry condemned today’s Israeli operation, adding that it “proves that Israel is not interested in ending the war.” The foreign ministries of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Lebanon also condemned the attack. In particular, Riyadh spoke of a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law”, at the same time criticizing the international community “which remains silent when such events occur”. Lebanon’s foreign ministry in its announcement emphasizes that “today’s deadly attack proves Israel’s intention to prolong the war.”

Ominous prospects for a truce

Today’s Israeli attack comes at an extremely important time, in view of a possible resumption of negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza. Specifically, following yesterday’s joint call by the leaders of the United States, Egypt and Qatar, a crucial meeting has been scheduled for next Thursday, August 15, to restart negotiations, with the aim of finalizing a truce agreement, based on “Biden frame”.

The August 15 meeting, which will probably take place in Doha, will also be attended by an Israeli delegation led by Mossad commander David Barnea.

Intensive preparation

As the state Israeli television reported last night, bilateral contacts between Israeli and Egyptian officials are planned to be held in the next few days, in order to resolve disagreements regarding the security and military control regime that will apply to the “Philadelphia Axis” and the Rafah outpost. , on the Gaza-Egypt border. The aim of the Israel-Egypt bilateral contacts is to resolve these bilateral issues so that the negotiating teams that will participate in the August 15 meeting can focus on the general terms of the ceasefire, the number and time priority of releasing the Israeli hostages, the number and criteria the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons and the management of the daily life of the residents of the Gaza Strip during the remaining stages of the ceasefire agreement.

Hamas is still silent

Although until last night the Hamas organization under its new leadership had not officially announced whether it would finally agree to participate in the process of restarting negotiations, diplomatic circles in Washington expressed estimates, on condition of anonymity to Israeli media, that Iran and Hezbollah does not wish for the generalization of the war, and therefore, the resumption of negotiations for a cease-fire in Gaza would reduce the tension in the region. These optimistic estimates were reinforced by reports in British newspapers, which brought the entourage of Iranian President Masoud Pezheskian expressing to Revolutionary Guard officials strong misgivings about a possible Iranian missile attack against Israel, in retaliation for the assassination of Ismail Haniya in Tehran the in the early hours of July 31st.