At least 10 Palestinians were killed today in an Israeli airstrike on a school where displaced families had taken refuge in the western part of Gaza City, according to Palestinian enclave civil protection authorities, cited by Reuters.

Giving a first account, a spokesman for the civil protection service of the Gaza Strip had said that rescuers had recovered “seven bodies”, five men and two children, from the ruins of a school in Gaza City, where thousands of displaced people had taken refuge.

“We continue to search for bodies under the ruins of the Mustafa Hafiz school,” the agency’s spokesman, Mahmoud Basal, told AFP.

“There are at least 15 wounded, including women and children, after an Israeli aircraft dropped a bomb on the second floor of the building housing thousands of displaced people,” he added.

The AFP was unable to independently verify the account.

The Israeli army announced for its part that it carried out a “precision strike against terrorists operating in a Hamas command and control center (…) hidden inside the school” Mustafa Hafiz.

“Several measures were taken to reduce the risk of harm to civilians, including the use of precision munitions,” the military said.

Hamas denies Israel’s accusations that it uses schools and hospitals for military purposes.

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